


Red, White, and Harley

by River9Noble



Series: Red and Harley AU [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Harleen Quinzel, Batfamily Drama (DCU), Dissociative Identity Disorder, Eventual Smut, F/M, Future Tim/Steph in Sequel, Healed Harleen Quinzel, Hurt Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Marriage, Only rape/non-con is reference to past childhood incidents, Past Sexual Abuse, Romance, Smol Damian Wayne, Tumblr: Jason Todd Rare Pair Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:19:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21568273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/River9Noble/pseuds/River9Noble
Summary: Coming back from the dead isn't all it's cracked up to be. Bruce has thrown Jason Todd, aka Red Hood, into prison, appalled at his murdering ways. Who should cross his path one day but Harley Quinn - and she knows a secret that shocks Jason to his core. Jason just might find that Harley isn't quite all she's cracked up to be, either.
Relationships: Harleen Quinzel/Jason Todd
Series: Red and Harley AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554373
Comments: 10
Kudos: 152
Collections: Jason Rare Pair Challenge





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings: This story contains - mention of childhood rape (no graphic details) and a semi-graphic description of Joker's violence towards Jason
> 
> This is the prequel that you should read first before reading the sequel "Red Knight Takes Queen's Bishop." You won't appreciate the sequel fully if you skip "Red, White and Harley."

Jason Todd barely glanced at the subdued blonde about to pass him in the hallways of Arkham as two guards propelled him back to his cell in solitary with little regard for his shackled feet.

Therapy was a joke, but it was the only time he got to leave his cell, thanks no doubt to Bruce's heavy-handed influence with the new Arkham warden, Amanda Waller, who was only too eager to keep Red Hood locked up in isolation. 

Jason supposed that he appreciated the change of scenery, at least, that therapy three times a week brought him, if not the company of the persistently questioning therapist who hadn't yet been put off by Jason's selective muteness.

Five months on Friday of his complete silence in sessions. Jason wondered idly if that was some kind of Arkham record when the blonde gasped.

"Robin!"

Jason's eyes shot to the startled prisoner, who had said his name - his _other_ name - with such certainty and, most surprisingly, in such a low-pitched tone of sanity. 

For he found himself looking into the wide-eyes of none other than Harley Quinn, her face gone white not from make-up but from the shock of seeing a ghost.

Her own guard had stopped when Harley had jerked to a sudden stop, followed by Jason's guards, and all three were now looking suspiciously back and forth from Jason to Harley, who was staring at Jason as if in a trance. 

Jason raised an eyebrow as he gave her a hard stare, silently willing her to not make his life any worse.

With a small tremor, Harley seemed to snap out of it, plastering a wide grin on her face and letting out her trademark high pitched giggle, which to Jason's ears sounded oddly forced.

"Robbin' or killin' - what's your poison?" she demanded, jabbing her finger at him with each question. "You're new here. I wanna know."

Jason silently let out his breath.

"Killing," he growled coldly, causing his guards to remember that they'd stopped in the hallway with Red Hood, shoving him roughly as they forced him to keep moving.

"I approve!" Harley sang after him, easily shrugging off her guard's attempts to get her to walk on. "Gotta a name, sweetie?" 

Jason thought for a second before answering. Bruce and Waller had at least kept his identity as the Red Hood a secret from the other inmates and while it was only a small measure of added safety, it was something.

"Name's Jay," he finally called back, although that earned him a sharp crack on his head from a nightstick.

"Keep your mouth closed, inmate," the leering guard snarled. 

Harley's guard seemed indifferent to her ongoing attempts at conversation as he heard her calling back cheerfully as his guards pushed him around the corner,

"J! That's my favorite letter…"


	2. Chapter 2

Jason lay in his dark cell after lights out, running his earlier encounter with Harley around and around in his head. 

The hamster-wheel brain syndrome was one of the many side effects of his prolonged stay in solitary, although Jason did wonder sometimes if thinking of something was keeping him saner than thinking of nothing. 

His anger at Bruce sat constantly in his stomach like a heavy weight, the resentments he'd felt after returning to Gotham following his resurrection and the Lazarus pit now nothing more than minor irritants compared to the rage that he felt towards Bruce for throwing him into solitary in Arkham.

 _What the fuck was that bastard thinking?_ Jason seethed to himself for the thousandth, millionth time, momentarily distracted from his thoughts of Harley's worrisome ID by his favorite pasttime, "Reasons Why I Hate Bruce." 

Some nights he made it a game show in his head, some nights an op-ed for Gotham Daily. When he was feeling really creative, he tried making it into a Shakespearean sonnet but he couldn't quite get the meter right.

If only they'd let him have something to read, he thought in frustration for the billionth time.

What the fuck was he going to do with a book? Try to slice the guard's jugular by giving him paper cuts?

Not like he'd ever kill a guard, unless they were dirty. Jason sighed heavily, adding that to the List since Bruce clearly thought he was as much a monster as the Joker.

 _The Joker._

Jason's stomach clenched in nausea and his heart rate went up in fear, as much as he hated himself for it.

God.

He could still remember, he always remembered, looking up from the floor as the crowbar came down and knowing, knowing as time slowed down and his blood rushed in his ears, that he was going to die at the hands of that maniac.

They say your whole life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die, but it wasn't Jason's past that he'd seen in the warehouse before the bomb went off - it was his future, floating away on wispy clouds.

Graduating high school. Going to college where he'd probably have been a lit major. Reading the rest of Harry Potter, for crying out loud, he wasn't going to learn how they defeated Voldemort?

Falling in love. And an even more crazy thought, being loved back.

He'd never really thought that much possible but to know it was definitely going to be impossible? Fuck.

Speaking of fucking, having actual sex instead of jerking himself off to porn. Shit, even kissing a girl. It's not like he'd ever even dated, he'd been so busy with Bruce and such a nasty motherfucker to everyone at school.

God, why had he been so stupid to trust Bruce, why had he wanted so badly to belong to someone that he put on the damn suit, telling himself that he loved it even when the sometimes close calls kept him from sleeping when he finally crawled into bed until he drank one or two or a few of the beers that he kept hidden in his room for such emergencies.

 _How could you be such a weak fuckin pussy to let Bruce do this to you?_ his mind had whispered to him right before Joker's bombs went off.

Jason groaned, rubbing his hands over his closed eyes, trying to wipe the flashback from his brain and taking deep breaths. He almost missed the quiet whisper.

"Hey. Hey! Psssst! Wake up!"

Jason rolled slowly to the side. He couldn't make out who was standing at his cell door, but he had a pretty damn good idea.

Frowning, Jason flicked his eyes to the security camera that Bruce had rigged up to always be running on him in his cell. The red light was off.

Jason's eyebrow quirked, wondering. Curiosity got the better of him so he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and padded lightly on the cold floor over to Harley.

"I ain't gonna hurt ya," Harley said as he approached.

She swallowed.

"I mean," she said, her voice suddenly falling into a lower register, "I'm _not_ going to hurt you. I just want to talk."

Jason cocked his head at her.

"So talk," he said.

"Are you his brother?" she asked, reaching a hand out to lightly touch his face through the bars.

Jason could have grabbed it and broken it. He should have. But he hadn't had any human contact in five months except for the guard's rough treatment of him.

And if he was being honest, it wasn't like he was going around getting hugs when he'd been out working as Red Hood either. 

Harley's hand was cool and soft and she palmed the side of his face so gently as she looked up at him that without thinking, Jason placed his hand on top of hers and held it there.

"Whose brother?" he asked needlessly.

"Robin's," Harley said in a voice that sounded broken-hearted.

But that couldn't be, right? She was Joker's girl and she should be immune to the deaths he caused by now.

When Jason didn't answer right away, Harley added, "Did you know he was Robin?"

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Your brother," she said. "Did you know that he was Robin? Or did he hide that from you?"

Jason hesitated.

"I knew," he said finally. "But I couldn't stop him."

"It wasn't your fault," Harley said firmly, some anger creeping into her tone. "How could you stop Batman from taking what he wanted?" she practically snarled.

"Fuck that bastard," she added vehemently.

Jason froze. A hardened vein in his heart, slowly, barely, thawed as one drop of feeling rolled down.

"What do you care?" he asked Harley harshly.

Jason couldn't make out the tears in her eyes, but he heard them in her voice.

"I don't blame you for hating me," she said quietly. "You should. I let him out of Arkham. The Joker, I mean," she said, wiping her face with her free hand.

"And I will regret that until the day I die," she added.

"Will all of you?" Jason asked quizzically. "Because you're sounding pretty sane right now, but I think your alter ego was the one waking me up a minute ago."

Harley snorted.

"You're right, she was, but … we're a lot better now. More whole."

Jason flicked his eyes to the camera and saw that the light was still dark.

"How'd that happen?" he asked, absent-mindedly rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb as he kept it pressed to his face.

Harley took a deep breath.

"It was seeing your brother," she said. "When I got to the warehouse, Mistah - I mean, the Joker, had taken off Robin's mask and he was laughing over him as he lay there dead, just a kid. A _kid!_ A teenager. He should've been in school, he should've -" she broke off and took another breath.

"I just, I came back to myself," she said. "All I could see was myself at fourteen lying there all bloodied and bruised after my step-father had raped me and I remembered thinking that my life was over, and your brother's life _was_ over, and I just…" she trailed off.

"How'd you get away?" Jason asked her.

"Away?" Harley asked in confusion.

"From the Joker. When you saw me-yyy brother lying there, and realized what Joker had done to you, how'd you get away from him?"

"Oh," Harley said nonchalantly. "I killed him."

Jason's jaw fell open.

"He's dead?" he asked her, gripping her hand tightly. "You actually killed him? You're sure he's dead?"

"Oh yeah, one hundred percent," Harley said with a little more Brooklyn in her voice.

"I just picked up a piece of metal that had fallen down, and BAM! I bashed his brain in."

Jason was gulping for air.

"Fuck," he said in a low voice, breathing hard. "How come nobody knows he's dead?"

Harley snorted in amusement.

"Like I would share that priceless piece of information with just anybody," she said, flipping her hair back.

"Mistah J's name opens a lotta doors, Hoodie, and I need that sometimes to keep myself safe. You see where I'm currently residin', don't ya?"

"What'd you do with the body?" Jason asked in sudden fear because oh, God, if there was anybody he didn't want to see resurrected from the dead…

"I burned it," Harley said with satisfaction. "And then I threw the pieces out in the ocean. Couldn't have nobody findin' it, ya know?"

Jason sighed in relief.

"Good. You did real good, Harley, thank you," he said, squeezing her hand.

"You're welcome, Jay-Jay," she said sincerely. "I did it for your brother, ya know? Not for me. I could've escaped any which way I wanted, but somebody had to kill that monster for what he did to Robin, and God knows, the Bat wouldn't do it," she said angrily.

Jason felt his eyes prick with a hint of moisture as his throat tightened.

"You did that for me? I mean - for my family, for revenge for my brother?" he asked her, hardly believing what he was hearing.

"Of course," Harley said. "He was a kid, he shouldn't have even been there. Batman was a fucked-up monster for turning him into that. And when I finally get my hands on the Bat, I'm gonna tell him that before I kill him."

Jason's heart warmed like it hadn't done since he'd re-awoken.

"You're an amazing person, Harley Quinn," he said, reaching his right hand through the bars to trace her own face.

"Or should I call you Harleen now?"

Harley shook her head, laying her hand on top of Jason's as he had done to hers.

"Harley's fine, I still gotta maintain my rep, you know? And, she's part of me. She _is_ me. And we're seeing a lot more eye to eye these days."

"Good," Jason said, falling into a silence which started to stretch awkwardly as he and Harley stood palms to cheeks.

"So," Harley said finally, pulling away from him but moving to hold his hands in hers.

"Do you need anything? You want me to break you out of here?"

"You can do that?" Jason said, fiercely grasping her hands as he leaned forward.

"Of course!" Harley said easily. "You saw I took care of the cameras in here, right?"

"Yeah," said Jason. "I'm impressed."

"Awww," Harley said, "it's nothin'. I got so many guards and prisoners in my pocket that I can do pretty much whatever I want around here."

"Why are you still in here, then?" Jason asked her.

"Oh, well," Harley said, "I'm just coolin' my heels until the Bat finds someone else to obsess over. He didn't take too kindly to my last assassination attempt," she laughed.

"So I figured, let him get riled up over someone else for a couple months first, and then I'll break out and kill him when he's off guard. Except he's never really off guard," she sighed, scuffing her foot on the floor.

"But hey," she brightened up considerably.

"You want him dead, too, right? For what he did to your brother? I could break out with ya and we could work together to kill him. Whaddya say?"

Jason hesitated. The rock of resentment was pressing so hard on his stomach that he could hardly breathe, but thinking of killing Bruce - he shook his head at his inner confusion but Harley took it as a no.

"Oh, well, ok," she said in disappointment. "I mean, I understand Red Hood works alone, and all -"

"Wait a minute," Jason barked. "You know I'm Red Hood?"

"Well, yeah, the guards told me," Harley said. "But I've kept it quiet, don't worry. I won't break your cover. I'll still help you get out, too, and if you need weapons or anything I can get you all set back up."

Jason tugged her hands lightly.

"I didn't mean no to working together," he said.

He sighed.

"I'm just not sure I'm ready to kill Br- Batman. It's complicated," he said.

"Oh," Harley said, perking up a little again.

"Well, ok, I wouldn't mind workin' with ya while ya figure out if you want Batsy dead or not. I mean, you're Robin's family so you should have more of a say than me in who dies, so…"

Jason felt himself breaking into a smile as an unexpected warmth melted some of the heaviness in his gut.

"I'd love that," he said genuinely. "Whenever you're ready to break out with me, I'll be ready."

"Ok! It's a date," Harley said happily.

She squeezed Jason's hand tightly for a second before pulling away.

"You've got about ten minutes before the camera comes back on," she said cheerfully as she skipped off down the hallway.

"Ten minutes?" thought Jason with a small smile still lingering on his face.

With a grin, he climbed back into bed and pulled the cover up to take full advantage of his first chance in five months to masturbate, thoughts of a certain blonde warming not just his cock.

As Jason drifted off to sleep later with the warm, fuzzy feeling still in his heart, he felt like maybe, for the first time since he'd crawled out of his coffin, he was really, truly, starting to come back to life.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason was surprised to hear Harley's whisper the very next night.

"Pssst! Hoodie! Rise and shine!" 

He hadn't actually been asleep so he was up and over to her quickly. And if he was a little more excited about seeing Harley again versus excited about getting out, he could live with that.

"Hey, beautiful," he said to her, reaching his hand out through the bars.

"Hi, yourself, Muscles," she answered back playfully, squeezing his hand in greeting.

"Get your shoes on, it's time to roll."

"You work fast," Jason said admiringly, reluctantly letting her hand go and moving to pull on his laceless slip-on sneakers.

"I'm the best!" Harley agreed cheerfully as she buzzed a keycard to the door.

Jason stepped out of his cell gratefully and pulled her into a hug that bordered on sexy.

"Oh!" Harley said. "Wow, um, you're welcome, I guess!" neutrally returning his embrace without any of the heat he was hoping for.

"Come on, we gotta get to the service sub-level," she said, pulling away and grabbing his hand to lead him along the corridors, using her keycard to get them through locked areas.

"Who's gonna take the rap for letting us out?" he said.

Harley snickered.

"The card's keyed to Madame Warden, Ms. Amanda Waller."

Jason laughed.

"Bats will never buy that. You didn't have anyone else you actually wanted to take down?"

Harley glanced back at him in the dim after-hours lighting.

"You don't know much about her, do ya?"

Jason shrugged.

"Not really."

"Mm," Harley said. "You'll learn. Why do you think it was so easy to override the live feed on your camera with recorded footage?"

Jason paused but Harley tugged him on.

"I … don't know?" he said.

"She already had the tech set up."

"Shit," Jason breathed. "Why? I've barely seen her since I got here."

"Yeah, well, you're lucky," Harley said. "She's been running a merc squad with her top prisoners. Except we call it the Suicide Squad 'cause she sure as hell don't pay us and she wouldn't care if we all came back in bodybags."

"Fuck," Jason said. "Is it like a volunteer thing?"

Harley laughed out loud at that.

"God, you're cute, Hoodie. Volunteers," she shook her head.

"Well, for… time off or something? Shit, I don't know," he said in embarrassment. "I've been in solitary since I got here."

"Oh, sweetie, you're so one of the good guys," Harley said sympathetically, still laughing quietly.

"She blackmails everyone into it. Finds their weak spot, something on the outside they actually care about, and holds it over their head. She's stone cold, Jay, don't you doubt it. That woman follows through on her threats."

"Fuck," Jason said again, a little nervously this time, suddenly really glad that he was on his way out.

"So you're on it?"

"Yeah, I been dabblin'," Harley said casually.

"What the hell's she got on you?" Jason asked curiously.

Harley giggled.

"Nothin', actually. I mean, she _says_ she knows where Mistah J is and she can order the kill strike on him anytime…"

Harley winked.

"You see why I keep certain things to myself."

"Why are you doing it for her then?" Jason asked.

"You got a lot to learn, Little Hood," Harley said, stopping him in a corridor intersection and bending down to lift up the already unscrewed metal drain grate under the emergency sprinkler system.

"Jump," she ordered him, leaving the grate slightly ajar over the hole.

Harley lightly jumped down after him into the sub-level sewer filled with pipes and infrastructure.

"Hoist me up," she said. "I gotta put the cover back."

Jason glanced up at the height difference between the ceiling and Harley's tiny frame and grunted.

"Spread your legs," he said.

"Why, Mistah Hood!" Harley drawled.

Jason grinned.

"Just do it. You need to get on my shoulders."

"Fine, fine," Harley teased. "That's what you _sayyyy…_ "

Jason bent down and slid his head between her legs, closing his eyes briefly in momentary rapture, before grabbing her around the legs tightly and straightening up as she gripped his head.

"I got you," he said as she carefully let go and felt for the grate while Jason tried vainly not to think of all the dirty things that he wished Harley would do with her pussy while it was cushioned against the back of his head.

It was a small relief to his cock when the grate clanged back into place and he could set her down.

"Killuh Croc leaves that one open for me," Harley explained, grabbing his hand again to lead him.

It was clearly a friendly gesture and meant to minimize the need for verbal directions, but Jason couldn't stop wishing that it meant something more.

Since jacking off last night - no, since she'd told him she'd avenged him - Jason had developed the biggest crush on Harley Quinn Quinzel.

Harley set a pretty brisk pace through the sewers, not running, but clearly wanting to make good time. 

_Damn, she's smart and competent and funny and fine as hell AND she killed Joker for me,_ Jason thought to himself admiringly, wondering if he had a chance with her. 

_Hey, we're gonna be working together,_ he thought positively.

"So tell me why you're on the Suicide Squad," he said after awhile. "Since Waller can't really blackmail you."

"Oh, you know," Harley said. "Compilin' a good blackmail file on her for all her shit, buildin' and trainin' the squad as my own crew to use on the outside… plus it's good to stay sharp, ya know?"

Jason did know, which is why he'd diligently spent a few hours a day in his tiny cell working out with resistance excercises - push ups, handstands, crunches, jumping jacks.

He couldn't afford to be soft if he ever had the chance to break out. And now that he was on his way out, he reflected cheerfully, it didn't hurt his image to be able to keep up with Harley easily. Damn, that woman was a firecracker of energy!

Jason finally felt the cold night air on his face blowing through the corridor and inhaled it blissfully.

"Fuck, that feels good," he said, sighing.

Harley made an empathetic noise.

"They ain't been letting you out into the yard, huh?"

"Nope," Jason said bitterly. "Bats made sure of that."

"Why's he so pissed at you?" Harley asked him. "I know it must have somethin' to do with your brother but I can't figure what."

"I don't know," Jason hedged. "I think it might have more to do, actually, with me being a good guy but not _his_ type of hero."

"Hmph," Harley said judgmentally. "Well, if Mr. Won't Use A Gun woulda just popped Jokesy in the head years ago, your brother'd still be alive and I'd have never been turned into a psycho. You do a lotta good, Hoodie, I'm real proud of ya for cleaning the city up like you been doin'. Ain't nothin' wrong with killin' people who got it comin.'"

Warmth flowed through Jason's chest at Harley's praise and he smiled broadly for the first time since - well - he had to think, actually, if there had ever been a time when he'd felt so accepted. 

_When Bruce first decided to adopt me_ , Jason thought with pain, grimacing as he remembered how badly he'd wanted to prove himself to Bruce, to train hard and be Robin for him, dying for his continued approval and acceptance. 

_Literally dying_ , he thought a second later, fury and betrayal ripping through him again like fire before he fell into the flashback, staring up at Joker as the crowbar came down, hearing it whistle through the air and shatter his bone, the way the bones sounded as they snapped and were hopelessly bent out of shape when he looked down at them, the tightness in his chest that made it hard to breathe -

"Hood! _Hoodie! JAY!"_ Harley was yelling at him and snapping fingers in his face. "Tell me five things that are red."

"What?" Jason asked in confusion, half hearing her and half seeing the demented laughing face of his killer.

" _Five things that are RED_ ," Harley said sharply. "Tell me. Now."

"Uh," Jason said, "My hood, Joker's lips, your costume, blood, a beating heart."

"Five things that are white, go!" Harley snapped.

"Joker's face, a human bone, uh, I don't know…"

"Three more," Harley said. "White things."

"Um… a newspaper, teeth, toothpaste."

"Good," Harley said from behind him, reaching up to scratch her fingernails through his scalp.

Jason relaxed into the sensation.

"Fuck, that feels good," he sighed.

"Five things that are blue," Harley said.

"The sky, water, your eyes…"

"Two more."

"You have two eyes so that should count twice," Jason said.

He heard the smile in her voice as she said, "All right, I'll allow it. One more. Blue."

Jason took a deep breath that stretched his lungs out all the way down his chest, exhaling heavily as he thought.

"Blue," Harley said again. "One more."

"The way I feel when you're not around," Jason said.

Harley's hands froze in his hair.

"Technically, that's metaphorical," she said after a second.

"Technically, you didn't specify that the things had to be literal," Jason said back.

Harley's hands slid down and off his scalp as she stepped back around him.

"The next time you have a flashback," she said in her clinical Dr. Quinzel voice, "I want you to start naming out loud five things that you see of each color. Go through all the colors if you have to, ok? As soon as you feel it starting."

"Ok," Jason said, breathing in the charged energy hovering between them. Harley swallowed.

"Normally you do what you can actually see but since there's not much to see down here…" she trailed off.

"I get it," Jason said.

"Ok, then," Harley said.

She waited for a beat before turning to lead him down the corridor towards the exit, this time not taking his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

Harley pushed open the grated door at the end of the tunnel and Jason stepped into the full embrace of the damp night air with relief. 

He rubbed his face with his hands and rolled his shoulders out while Harley made sure the door latched behind them. 

"It's only locked from the outside," she told him.

"But of course you've got the code," Jason grinned.

"Of course," said Harley with a smile. "Come on, I have a boat hidden down on the beach," she said, starting to climb down the gravelly side of the cliff that the Arkham Mental Institution for the Criminally Insane resided on.

Jason carefully followed after her, watching his footing in the moonlight.

Once at the boat, Harley wasted no time pulling the camouflaged tarps and dried brush and driftwood off.

"Help me fold these up," she said to Jason, handing him a tarp edge. "Gotta take them with us."

A memory flashed into Jason's mind, unbidden, of folding bedsheets fresh from the dryer after school together with Alfred and he had to blink away some tears. 

_Shit, Al must be getting up there,_ Jason thought with a pang. _I oughtta go see him, but…_ but, it was complicated, like everything else in his life.

Al had loved him, yeah, but he hadn't stopped Bruce from training him either.

 _Fuck_ , Jason thought raggedly, _why can't one thing in my life be simple?_

"You ok?" Harley said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Jason answered back, taking the folded tarps from her to stow in the small speedboat.

"Time to change," Harley said. "Can't go sailing off in prison gear." 

She had climbed into the boat and was pulling some worn gym clothes out of a duffel bag.

"These ought to fit ya," she said, tossing him some.

It was pretty dark down on the beach with only a little moonlight, but Jason turned his back anyway to strip and change clothes. He heard Harley changing behind him in the boat and tried not to peek over his shoulder at her.

"Ok," Harley said a quick minute later.

"Gimme your jumpsuit," she added, stuffing them both into the bag. "Let's shove off," she said, jumping out onto the beach and getting ready to push the boat into the water.

Together she and Jason pushed it into the shallows until it was floating easily off, clearing the harbor bottom, and then they climbed aboard. Harley started up the motor and confidently started piloting them towards Gotham mainland.

"You've done this before?" Jason asked her, sitting beside her at the helm.

Harley turned to grin at him.

"Once or twice," she said.

Her long blonde hair was flying off her face in the breeze from the water as they sped along and Jason sat quietly watching it, and her, listening to the waves slapping the side of the boat and smelling the salty water. It was a pretty damn good night, he mused. Except for -

"How'd you know I was having a flashback?" he asked her suddenly.

Harley glanced at him.

"I did use to be a psychologist, you know," she said.

"Oh," Jason said. "It was that obvious?"

"To me," Harley said, "yeah. Probably not to anyone who's not a mental health worker.”

”I ain't gonna ask what it was about; I'm sure you've had a lot of shit come your way both as the Hood and with what happened to your brother, and honestly, that ain't a can of worms you want to be openin' outside of a real therapy session. With an actual trauma therapist," she added, giving him a look to make sure he understood that she wasn't going to be the one therapizing him.

"Thanks," Jason said. "I get it."

He looked out over the water, watching the moonlight's lazy reflection floating on the surface. 

"Where we heading?" he asked her as they started to pull in closer to a secluded spot on the main shore.

"I got a bike here," Harley said. "So we can get to one of my safe houses."

She cut the motor back low and stopped a little ways off the beach, hopping out again to push the boat the rest of the way into shore. Jason hopped out and grabbed the rope off the bow to help pull it the rest of the way up.

It was a truly shitty beach, but that was true of all the shoreline in Gotham. Bottles and trash littered the shore and a rusted, graffitied dumpster stood near the treeline, surrounded by empty oil cans and industrial waste barrels.

As soon as the boat was on the sand, Harley ran over to the dumpster, unlatched something, and swung the side out.

"I got a winch in here to pull the boat up the rest of the way," she said to Jason who had followed her. "But we gotta get the bike out first." 

Jason saw the dim outline of handlebars in the dark dumpster which Harley had clearly made into a storage bunker. She kicked up the stand and rolled the bike out into the moonlight and Jason took an excited breath.

"Oh my God, you have a vintage _Harley_ ," he said in awe and love, crouching down and running his hands caressingly over the fenders.

"Yeah," Harley smiled. "A Harley for the Harley. A girl's gotta come home from prison in style, you know?"

Jason smiled as he continued checking out the bike with the eyes of a connoisseur.

"You ride?" Harley asked him.

"Do I ride?" Jason scoffed. "What other mode of transportation is there?"

Harley giggled.

"My feelings exactly. You wanna drive when we go?"

"Hell, yes," Jason said.

When the boat was tucked away in the dumpster and Harley and Jason had added shoes and helmets to their ensemble, Jason climbed on the seat of the bike reverentially.

"God, I've missed this," he said softly. "Worst thing about Arkham."

Harley smiled as she climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

"Where to?" Jason asked her.

"49th and F," Harley said. Jason turned his head back in disbelief.

"Really?" he asked her.

"Yeah, what's the problem?" she said.

"That's kind of a decent neighborhood," he said in puzzlement.

Harley laughed.

"Well, you see, Hoodie, I have some lovely neighbors who greatly appreciate my service to our nation in the United States Marine Corps," she said sweetly.

"Oh, shit," Jason said. "You're gonna have some Marines kick your ass one day."

Harley giggled playfully.

"Hasn't happened yet. Anyway, my neighbors know I get deployed from time to time so they don't worry when they haven't seen me for awhile."

"That's kinda crafty," Jason said in appreciation. "You're a smart lady, Dr. Quinzel."

"Why, thank you, Mistah Red Hood," she answered back. "Come on, let's go, I am dyin _'_ for a decent shower."

"Oh, a non-prison shower," Jason agreed dreamily as he gunned the motor and they took off towards the city.

Jason raised his eyebrows when Harley flicked the lights on in her apartment.

"This is… nice," he said in surprise.

It was small but cozy and looked, well, lived in.

"Thanks," Harley said as she locked the eight bolts on her door behind them and put the chain on.

"I am actually a real person, you know. Or," she laughed without much humor, rubbing her head, "I was once, anyway."

She threw the duffel bag on the couch and flopped down into the pillows with a huge sigh.

"God, it's good to be home," she said happily, stretching her arms up and putting her feet on the coffee table.

She bounced up a second later, though.

"Why don't you take the first shower," she said. "Bathroom's in the bedroom, clean towels are on the shelf in there. I'm gonna put the kettle on, I have got to get some real tea going."

"Tea?" Jason said in amusement. "Not a coffee drinker?"

"In the mornings, yeah," Harley said, "but I love my gourmet loose leaf teas. Best shit ever," she said happily, moving to the kitchen to fill the kettle up.

"Save me some hot water," she called over her shoulder.

"Will do," Jason said, heading towards the bedroom.

He felt for the light switch as he entered and stopped when it snapped on, arrested by the girly atmosphere of Harley's bedroom, another pleasant shock quite at odds with who he'd thought Harley Quinn to be.

Blue gauzy drapes hung over thick black-out curtains carefully sealed around the windows, and pink paper lantern lights hung from the ceiling over the bed which was covered in a fluffy blue and gold duvet and tons of frou frou pillows.

Shaking his head at her stuff, but deep down kind of loving it, Jason moved to the bathroom which, he wasn't quite so surprised to see, was filled with all kinds of girly products and shit.

He came out of the shower smelling like fresh strawberries and cocoa butter, which he couldn't deny was kind of deliciously wonderful, and pulled back on the gym clothes he'd arrived in before making his way back out to Harley.

"Your turn," he said to her, finding her in the kitchen just pouring hot water over her tea leaves.

"You want some tea?" Harley said.

He hesitated.

"Scared?" she teased.

"Red Hood is not afraid of some tea," he said. "Give me a cup."

"Yes, sir," Harley winked. "I gotta dye my hair and let it set for twenty minutes before I shower, so I'll be back out in a few. Can't have the neighbors thinking I'm a blonde," she laughed. 

"I'll pick some black dye up for you tomorrow," she said, eyeing his red roots.

"I wouldn'ta pegged ya for a redhead, that's for sure," she said.

"No?" Jason said. "The _Red_ Hood didn't give it away?"

"Har har," Harley said. "Seriously, though, the black goth hair seems to go with your DNA so much better," she commented as she walked into the bedroom.

"The red is kinda weak," she winked back at him.

"That's why I dye it," Jason called back.

He walked over to her bookshelves eagerly instead of sitting down on the couch, pouring over her titles like a starving man.

Most of them were psychology textbooks and non-fiction research manuals, but Harley had some fiction mixed in seemingly randomly.

Jason was reading the back cover of "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" when Harley stepped back out with her hair slicked wet with brown dye.

"Twenty minutes," she said, setting the microwave timer and picking up their tea cups.

She brought his over to him and sat down on the floor next to him.

"Whatcha got? Oh, I love that one," she said when Jason turned the book over to show her the cover.

"So beautiful, about this broken girl with schizophrenia," she said, smiling at it like an old friend. "Have you read it?"

"No," Jason said. "I love to read, but I mostly read classics. James Joyce and shit like that," he said, with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Damn, Jay!" Harley said. "I never could get through that heavy stuff. That's impressive."

"Yeah, well, I could never read all these psychology books," Jason said. "That stuff would make me fall asleep. You've read all these?"

"Oh yeah," said Harley, rubbing her fingers along some spines. "These are all so great, some I re-read all the time."

She chewed on her lip for a minute, some sadness crawling onto her usually smiling features.

"I really loved my field, you know?" she said softly, with regret.

She shook her head a second later, though, blinking away some tears.

"Oh, well, though, right?"

She sighed but didn't look any happier.

"I'm sorry," Jason said to her.

"It ain't your fault, kiddo," she said to him.

"Kiddo, that just hurts," Jason said with a smile. "I'm twenty-three, Harley, geez."

"And I'm thirty-three," Harley said back. "An old lady, next to you."

There was a faint tone of warning in her voice and Jason wondered uncomfortably if she was thinking back to his stupid admission in the maintenance tunnel. 

_I feel blue when you're not around,_ he mocked himself in his head. 

_Real smooth, Jay, you've known her all of twenty-four hours._

She stood up from the floor and stretched.

"I've got a Tennessee Williams play here somewhere if that's more your preferred reading genre."

Jason let himself be distracted from his self-flagellation by her kindness and his excitement over reading one of his favorites again. 

_God, Bruce sucks_ , he thought for the approximately five trillionth time, _not letting me have even one goddamn book._

"Here it is," Harley said pulling it off the shelf and handing it to him. "Clothes for a Summer Hotel, you know that one?"

"I love that one!" Jason said happily, his eyes sparkling with pleasure.

Harley smiled.

"Me, too. Well, I love the mental hospital setting, but Zelda Fitzgerald - God, what a girl. All that brilliant fire that the jealous man in her life just couldn't squash. So tragic, but she's so fierce," Harley said with admiration.

"Kinda like you and Joker?" Jason said before he thought.

Harley's face froze.

"Shit," Jason said quickly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No," Harley said slowly, "it's ok."

She sighed, picking at a fingernail.

"Life imitates art," she muttered. "Isn't that what they say?"

"Well," Jason said, "you weren't the one who died in a fire in your story. That was him. Well, after you bashed his brains in. So… I think you're doing just fine," he said to her lamely.

"Thanks, Jay," she said to him quietly.

The timer went off and Harley went to stop it.

"Gonna go wash this dye out," she said to him. "We can take turns sleeping on the couch, I'll take it tonight," she said.

"No way," Jason said. "It's your house, you get the bed first."

"You're the guest," Harley argued.

"I'm the grateful sonofabitch you just sprung from jail. You totally deserve first dibs on the bed for that," Jason said wholeheartedly.

"Well, ok, you win," Harley said with a smile.

"I'm gonna go ahead to bed after I get out of the shower," she added, "but feel free to come use the bathroom in the night whenever you want, of course. I'll leave the bedroom door open," she said.

"Thanks, Harley," Jason said to her. "For everything, I mean it. It means more than you know."

She nodded at him before disappearing to the shower. Jason put his empty tea cup in the sink - honestly, it wasn't bad, he had to admit - and shut the lights off before stretching out on the well-worn couch with the afghan.

He heard the water running for the shower as he closed his eyes and breathed in the subtle scents of a normal home instead of the stale air and sterile cleaning products of Arkham.

The deepest sense of peace came over him. 

_I wish_ , Jason thought fleetingly, _I wish life could just be this. Books, tea, a quiet small apartment, and Harley._

He'd never thought of hanging up the Hood, but in the quiet dark of Harley's living room, a tiny glimmer of longing for a normal life lit a spark.

 _Harley Quinn and Red Hood_ , he scoffed to himself as he tried to snuff the silly desire out before falling asleep. 

_Nothin' normal about that, kiddo._


	5. Chapter 5

Jason woke up to the quiet sound of running water in the kitchen.

"Hey," Harley said to him as he sleepily opened his eyes in the still dark room and sat up to look over at her. 

"I'm starting coffee and then I'm gonna go get us breakfast, all I got in the house is ice cream and frozen pizza. Lay low 'til I get back, ok?"

"Will do," Jason said, laying back down with a yawn. "What time is it?"

"Ten," Harley said.

"Shit, really?" Jason said, pushing himself back up.

"Yeah," Harley replied. "I got blackout curtains sealed over all the windows. Can't have anybody seeing in, you know?"

"Yeah, makes sense," Jason said, rubbing his jaw. "I guess I should get up, then," he added. 

Harley laughed.

"I think you're entitled to one lazy day after breaking out of prison, Jay," she said. 

He grinned back at her as he stretched his arms and settled back into the couch.

"Well, maybe," he conceded, pulling the covers back up.

"Be back soon," Harley said with a smile, grabbing her keys and purse and heading out the door.

Jason woke back up when he heard her keys rattling in the lock and he managed to make it to a sitting position by the time she was bustling in the door, a few bags in hand.

"Hey, Jay!" she said cheerfully, setting down her purse as he got up to help her.

"Hey, yourself," Jason said, reaching for the biggest bag but freezing as the strongest desire to peck her on the lips to welcome her home washed over him.

 _What if this was our real life?_ He thought with longing. _My wife coming in with the groceries._

"Jay?" Harley said. 

He blinked, realizing he was standing next to her with his hand on the bag but hadn't moved.

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head to clear his mind. "I just spaced out for a minute." 

Harley looked at him with a little bit of concern.

"You got a lot going on up in there, don't ya?" she asked gently, tapping his forehead lightly with one finger which made a faint flush steal across his cheeks.

"Yeah, I guess I do," he muttered, actually taking the bag over to the kitchen this time. 

Opening it as she snapped the lights on, he moaned in delight. 

"Fresh bagels? Oh, my God, I love you," he said happily, pulling out the cream cheese. 

"Where are the knives?" he asked, pulling open random kitchen drawers.

"Far left," Harley answered, coming over next to him to get down two coffee mugs from a higher cabinet. 

A wave of comfort washed over Jason at the casual domesticity between them. It felt easy. It felt … _right._

Harley poured the coffee and settled onto a stool as he sliced a bagel. She pushed a small box towards him.

"Black hair dye," Jason acknowledged with a grin. "Thanks."

"Welcome," Harley said, sipping her coffee and sighing with pleasure. "Oh, I've missed this," she breathed out happily.

"What, the Super Harley Quinn couldn't get the good stuff on the inside?" Jason teased her. 

Harley giggled.

"Wellll, I could have, but then everyone on the cell block would've ganged up and killed me for leaving them with the instant crap, soooo….. sometimes it's better to be one of the little people," she winked.

"I hear that," Jason said, and sighed. "Sometimes I wish I _was_ one of the little people," he muttered honestly. 

He looked up when Harley squeezed his hand.

"Me too," she said, meeting his eyes seriously. She shook her head slowly, looking over her small living room, her eyes landing on her books. The corner of her mouth frowned.

"I swear, Jay," she said, turning back to him with a catch in her throat, "sometimes I just lie awake at night thinking I would give anything if I could go back in time and be regular old Harleen Quinzel again."

Jason nodded as he gave a self-deprecating laugh. 

"I wish I'd never put the damn mask on," he tried to say lightly, but his voice cracked and tears suddenly filled his eyes.

He turned away from Harley, embarrassed, but she put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"Why did you become the Hood?" she asked curiously. "Your brother had been gone for so long before you started but I guess you were young when he died," she reasoned. 

Jason cleared his throat, wiping his eyes before turning to face her.

Looking into her clear blue eyes meeting his with so much tender concern and easy camaraderie and … was there maybe a flicker of something else? Or was that just his foolish hopes? 

Either way, Jason came to a decision.

"I'm, uh, … it wasn't … it wasn't my brother who died," he said slowly. 

Harley raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you said it was," she replied.

"No, um … you just assumed that," Jason said. "And I didn't correct you." 

Harley frowned a little.

"So who was it then? Your cousin?"

"No, um, Harley. It was …. "

What it was, was a lot harder to say out loud than he thought it would be. And not because of telling Harley. 

Jason closed his eyes.

"It was me," he said.

"What?" Harley said, utterly confused but sounding a little fearful, too. 

Jason opened his eyes and looked at her as he took a deep breath.

"I died," he said heavily. " _I_ was Robin. Joker killed me. You saw _me_ in that warehouse."

Harley's breathing started coming fast and shallow. Her hands started shaking as her eyes went wide.

"No, Jay," she said, spilling coffee out of her mug as she tried to set it down on the counter. 

"You can't be. You _can't,_ that's not possible."

"Oh, my God," she muttered half to herself, staring at him. 

"The trauma, maybe? Of losing your twin? Were you twins? Maybe you took that loss on and thought it was you? Oh, God, I've never read of anything like this happening before, but we don't know a lot about twins yet, and -"

Jason grabbed her hand. "Harley, no, listen, listen to me," he said soothingly. 

"It was me _,_ " he said firmly, although tears were filling his eyes. "I died _."_

He cleared his throat before he could continue.

"Superman-Prime altered reality somehow and I came back to life. I don't know how. I woke up in my coffin and clawed my way out.”

”And then later I went through the Lazarus Pit and got stronger, but that's another story. I promise you, though, it was mewho died. I'm not crazy."

Harley had started crying midway through Jason's explanation and by the time he finished she was sobbing with a hand over her mouth. 

She looked helplessly in his eyes before turning away from him.

"Oh, God, Jay, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so, sorry, how can you even be in the same room with me?" she burst out, waves of guilt rolling off of her as she cried. 

"It's my fault, it's my fault," she started saying, dropping her head into her hands on the counter as she sobbed.

"Harley, no," Jason said, moving to stand beside her and wrap an arm around her heaving shoulders. 

"It wasn't. It wasn't your fault."

"How can you say that?" Harley yelled at him, whirling to face him as she shrugged his arm off of her. 

"It _is_ my fault. Everything that he did after I let him out is on me _._ And I know that. You don't need to pretend to me to make me feel better about myself.”

”I know who I am and what I did and I killedyou," she ended.

"No, you fucking did _not,_ " Jason said to her more roughly, grabbing her by the shoulders and giving her a little shake.

"Did you beat me with that crowbar? No! Did you set those bombs in the warehouse? No!" 

Harley was shaking her head side to side.

"It doesn't matter what my hands did!" she retorted. "And my hands did plenty more than you might think they did to plenty of other people!" she added in self-loathing honesty. 

Jason shook her again.

"I don't care what you did, Harley!" he snapped at her.

"It wasn't. Your. Fault. None of it! Joker fucked with your mind and you're not responsible for that. If anything, Arkham's responsible for assigning you to treat the Joker but Joker could have turned anybody inside out. It was just bad luck it was you," he growled at her, squeezing her hard enough to bruise.

"Listen to me!" he insisted when she just stared back at him, not accepting his words but not arguing anymore, either. 

She finally broke his gaze, looking down and sniffing.

"You don't know what it's like to live with all of that on my conscience, Jay," she whimpered quietly. 

"You're telling me nice words, but my hands held the guns. My hands held the hammer. My hands did the deeds."

"You're a psychologist, for fuck's sake!" Jason said in exasperation. 

"Would you tell that bullshit to a client?" he demanded fiercely, grabbing her chin with one hand and forcing her to look at him. 

Harley sniffed. A few times.

Finally, a begrudging tiny smile ghosted on her lips. 

"Well … no," she sighed finally. "Physician, heal thyself," she murmured ruefully, rubbing her eyes. 

"But how can you not hate me?" she asked him, searching his face for the truth.

Jason met her eyes with a heated stare.

"Because I think you're amazing and brave and badass and smart as hell and you took out my murderer with your bare hands to avenge me." 

She gave him a half smile.

"Technically with the piece of debris I was holding in my bare hands -" she started to correct.

"Shut up," Jason said as he leaned down and kissed her, pulling her lips into his roughly with the hand he threaded through her hair. 

As he passionately tongue-fucked her mouth, Harley's hands slowly slid around his neck.

She pulled her mouth back for a minute to say, "I'm too old for you -"

"Seriously, no more talking," Jason growled, pulling her in tighter than before, his other hand sliding from her low back to her butt. 

Harley sighed into his mouth and began to relax into him. When Jason reluctantly freed her mouth a few minutes later so she could catch her breath, he grinned at her. 

"Older women are hot as hell. I got no complaints."

Harley groaned. 

"You're so _young_. Only somebody too young for me would say that," she said, but the playful smile on her face and the way her head was tipped up to look into his eyes told him a different story.

"Young is good," Jason said, picking her up by the waist and sitting her on the kitchen counter. 

"Young is virile. You'll like young," he promised her, standing between her legs as he leaned in to kiss her some more.

"Oh yeah?" Harley said between playful little kisses as she wrapped her legs around him, hugging him in close.

"Yeah," Jason said back, slipping a hand under the back of her shirt to undo her bra.

"Well," Harley said as he took his time nuzzling her neck on his way down to her chest, "I may possibly have formed a similar hypothesis," she admitted before letting out a little moan as one of his hands came up to cup her loose breast.

"Oh yeah?" Jason murmured against her skin, his other hand slipping into the back of her jeans.

"Mm, yeah," Harley said, pulling his head down to position his mouth over a nipple.

"I, um, picked up some condoms while I was at the drugstore," she said breathily as he sucked and licked. 

Jason laughed around her breast, his warm breath tickling her taut nipple.

"See, older women are so smart," he said, pulling away for a second to grin up at her.

Harley smiled warmly back down at him, running her fingers through his hair.

"You're really sure you want _me?_ " she asked one more time, even though she could see the answer shining out of his happy eyes.

"Yes. Forever." Jason said with finality.

Moving too fast be damned.

A warm glow spread throughout Harley, starting with her heart and finishing with a radiant smile breaking out onto her face.

She pulled Jason into a long kiss before breaking away just long enough to say - "Ok."

"Ok?" Jason confirmed hopefully, looking down at her.

"Yes," Harley said, gazing steadily back into his eyes before kissing him again. 

"Forever. Fuck moving too fast. I felt like you belonged here last night even though I didn't want to date anyone again. Ever. And I liked waking up with you here and I like this, now …" She paused. 

"We're good together, Jay," she said seriously.

"Yeah, we are," he agreed with a sexy smile as he bent back down to her.

Later that afternoon, as Harley stretched out lazily in bed next to Jason and basked in delicious soreness, she thought how glad she was that she'd picked up the condoms. 

_The one thing I didn't have in the house_ , she mused. _Never making that mistake again_ , she promised herself, making a mental tally of all of her safe houses and hidden go bags that needed updating.

Although, if she got an IUD and Jason was clean, maybe she wouldn't need to worry about it, she thought suddenly, with a grin.

"What are you smiling about?" Jason said sleepily, gazing appreciatively at her naked body.

"Thinking about getting an IUD and getting us both tested so I don't need to add condoms to all my safe houses," Harley said, rolling over to smile into his eyes.

Jason laughed out loud. 

"Baby, only you could make prepping secret hide-outs sexy," he said, pulling her into his arms. "My woman is so damn smart and hot," he growled at her, making her wet again.

"Tomorrow," Harley said on a sigh as she moved his hand down to her slit.

"Tomorrow what?" Jason asked her, lazily running fingers up and down her folds.

"Tomorrow we get tested," Harley said on a sharp intake of breath as he slipped a finger inside her and began to pump.

"Hell, yes," Jason agreed enthusiastically, adding another finger. 

Harley pulled his mouth into hers for a heated kiss as he finger fucked her slow and deep.

"The sooner I'm bare inside of you, the better," Jason agreed as he twisted his knuckle into her g-spot and made her come hard, writhing on his hand as she moaned into him.

"Fuck, Jay," she gasped.

"It's actually Jason," he said, pressing a few last tremors out of her. "But I like you calling me Jay."

"Me, too," Harley sighed into him, collapsing like a boneless doll onto his chest. 

"Finally got with the right one."


	6. Chapter 6

"Would you judge me if I hung up the Hood?" Jason asked Harley a little nervously that night after he closed her laptop in tired disgust.

Harley lifted her head up from his shoulder to regard him instead of her book.

"I would never judge you, Jay," she said gently. "You've done enough for twenty lifetimes and you didn't have to do any of it." 

Jason sighed heavily.

"I thought I was doing some good, but the gang situation is right back to where it used to be, or worse, since I've been in prison, and …" he rubbed his stubbled chin. 

"I'm tired," he admitted wearily.

"Then stop," Harley said, rubbing his arm. "You don't gotta do nothin' you don't want to do anymore, Jay-Jay." 

Jason kissed the top of her head and moved his arm around her shoulders to tug her in closer.

"You're not stopping, though," he said to her a little guiltily. "We were gonna work together, and here I am just bailing on you."

"Oh, Jay," Harley said, sliding an arm around his chest as she snuggled into him.

"I wanted to work with you because I liked you. But not if you don't want to do it, hon," she said sincerely, looking up at him.

"I'll like you just as much if you're my house-husband," she grinned.

"House-husband?" Jason said back to her, eyebrow cocked.

"Mm-hm," Harley said sweetly. "You can grocery shop, and vacuum, and do the laundry…"

Jason laughed into her twinkling eyes.

"Shit," he said, "I want to give you a hard time but that actually sounds really nice," he ended with a little more emotion than he intended.

He swallowed as Harley's eyes softened. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips and then brought her palm up to his cheek.

"Baby, as long as you're with me, whatever makes you happy is just fine, ok?" 

Jason gave her a slightly embarrassed smile as he reached up and grabbed her hand, bringing her palm to his mouth for a kiss.

"Why are you so good to me, Harley?" he asked her softly, kissing her fingertips gently one by one.

"Why are you so good to me?" she countered. 

He grinned.

"I love you, I guess," he said without breaking eye contact. 

Harley's smile could light up Gotham Stadium, he thought, as she dazzled him with it again.

"Well, there's your answer," she said to him. "I love you, too. With or without the Hood," she added reassuringly as she leaned in to kiss him. 

"But I wouldn't mind if you wanted to put it on sometimes for sex."

Jason laughed out loud.

"You're so crazy, baby, I love you," he said, kissing her again lightly.

"Enough to wear the Hood?" Harley teased.

"Anytime you want, baby," he said to her in his sexy growl, slapping her ass. 

Harley laughed as she climbed into his lap, moving the computer beside them.

"What kind of stuff are you into these days in your criminal life?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her. 

"Besides trying to kill Bruce." 

Harley looked at him.

"Bruce … ?" she asked. 

Jason's mouth opened.

"Oh, _shit_ ," he said, in horror. "Shit, shit, shit, that's the cardinal rule," he groaned, banging his head back onto the wall. 

"He's gonna kill me a second time."

"No, he ain't," Harley scoffed. "Batman don't kill nobody. See? First time that dumb rule of his works out good." 

Jason laughed, still groaning.

"You won't tell anybody, right?" he asked her, not really worried.

"Of course not," she said without hesitation, then paused.

"But, please… _please_ tell me the Bruce who's Batman is not the giant douche Bruce Wayne … ?" she begged him. 

Jason squeezed his eyes shut.

" _Fuck!"_ Harley yelled. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, are you fuckin' _kiddin'_ me? Bruce _Wayne_ is the fuckin' sonofabitch I haven't been able to kill? Oh, my God, I _hate_ myself…" she moaned. 

"That douchey, pretentious asshole is the one kickin' my ass? Oh, _God,_ " she wailed dramatically.

She turned her head to Jason, who was biting his lip trying really hard not to laugh at his girl. 

"You have just _tanked_ my self-esteem," she said to him accusingly, jabbing him in the chest with a finger. 

"If I was a legitimate murderer, I would've killed Bruce Wayne by now just for bein' a smarmy blight on the earth," she declared.

Jason's belly refused to stay still despite his grueling daily regimen of ab crunches and he busted out laughing until tears came out of his eyes.

"Oh, my God, baby - your face!" he managed to get out. "If looks of disgust could kill, ol' Bruce woulda just dropped dead!" 

Harley shook her head, but with a tiny smile. Then she got really serious.

"Oh, fuck, Jay, no wonder he fucked you up so bad," she murmured in concern, running a hand through his hair as if to reassure herself that he was, at the moment, whole.

"Yeah," Jason said, taking a deep breath and coming back to the present moment, looking more soberly into her eyes and squeezing her thigh for comfort. 

"It was pretty bad," he said thickly.

"I can imagine," Harley said softly.

"I know," Jason said, hugging her. "You get it. You're probably the only person who really would.”

”Everyone else just sees poor Jason Todd, lifted out of the streets and adopted by the billionaire, isn't his life special," he mocked bitterly. 

Harley rubbed his chest, just listening. Jason sighed.

"I was so happy, at first," he said. 

The corner of his mouth quirked.

"I mean, I didn't show it," he said, "I was a little asshole. But I felt it, you know? Like for the first time, my life was going to be stable and ok and I wouldn't have to worry anymore."

Harley made a sad noise of empathy, sounding heartbroken for him. Jason sighed.

"I was getting into a lot of fights in school, you know, the street brat turned rich kid, I had to kick a lot of ass," he smirked at her slightly.

"I can imagine," Harley smiled.

"And Bruce got all worried about it and started training me to fight, and that was awesome. I loved it," he said to her honestly.

"I would've been super happy just working out with him and trying to survive high school. And hanging out with Al," he added, misting up a little bit.

"My life had just turned so completely great. Even if I wasn't acting like it," he said.

"Of course you weren't going to act like it," Harley said understandingly. "You'd been living on the streets and every adult in your life had failed you.”

”You couldn't show your soft underbelly to anyone new before they earned your trust. That's completely normal," she said, sounding frustrated.

"Bruce should have understood that. That's basic child psychology for kids adopted out of foster care."

Jason sighed.

"Yeah, well, good luck trying to tell Bruce anything," he said with some anger creeping into his voice.

"The almighty Bat knows best," he snarked, but not at Harley.

"Did you want to become Robin?" Harley asked him, a little fearfully, already guessing the answer.

"No," Jason said to her. "Hell, no. I was kind of surprised when Bruce said he was Batman, but not as much as you might think.”

”I mean, living with him, he's different than the public douche you know and hate," he winked at her.

"After training with him for months," he went on, "and realizing how skilled he was, plus he's rich as fuck… I guess it wasn't an earth-shattering shock to learn he was the Bat.”

”But… I just wanted a normal, quiet life, you know? Yeah, I was fighting, and yeah, I had anger issues, what street kid doesn't? But I just wanted to have some stability in my life for a change. And then he offered to make me Robin, and …"

Jason trailed off as the lump in his throat grew and memories overwhelmed him. He shut his eyes against the tears.

"You didn't want to disappoint him," Harley said for him. "How could you say no to the man who had given you everything _?_ Right?"

"Yeah," Jason said, drawing a hand over his eyes. 

He wiped the tears and looked down at her, sniffing. 

"I started needing to drink myself to sleep after missions…" his voice broke.

"Oh, baby," Harley said, pulling his head down to her and cradling it while he cried. 

She made little soothing noises as she rocked him, as if holding him close could chase all his monsters away.

Some time later, with Jason laying quietly in her arms, Harley asked him softly, "What did he say to you when you came back to life?" 

Jason blinked some more tears away, wiping the back of his hand.

"We haven't really talked since then," he admitted.

"Never _?_ " Harley said in some disbelief. 

Jason shrugged.

"I was angry. He hadn't done anything to avenge me. And instead of learning something from me dying, he'd just gotten himself a new Robin and replaced me.”

”Like I was some disposable piece of garbage and like it didn't matter if he pulled the same shit with a different kid."

"That man has so many issues," Harley said grimly.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "So I just became the Hood without telling him it was me… and eventually he figured it out and started piecing shit together in that Bat brain of his, but… I think he thinks I'm psychotic.”

”He never approached me just to talk. It was always to capture me, to stop me. And then when he finally did, he threw me into solitary without even a conversation.”

”We haven't said more than five words to each other since I've been back."

"Wow," Harley said strongly. "If anybody needed a therapist. Or family therapy. Or shit, some time in the psych ward himself…" she sighed in frustration.

"I get why you don't want me to kill him," she said. "He's your dad. But, fuck, I wish I could pound some sense into him!"

"Me. Too." Jason sighed. "When I feel like bothering. Which is mostly never."

"Yeah," Harley said softly. "Well, you don't have to. You never have to, if you don't want to." 

Jason nodded and shifted in her arms.

"So tell me more about you, baby," he said, needing to change topics and remembering how they'd first gotten onto this tangent. 

"What kind of mayhem and mischief is my lady causing around town?" he smiled as he played with a strand of her hair.

Harley smiled.

"Well… not exactly what you might think. I mean, I'm still breaking some laws here and there, you know." 

She winked. 

"I've got certain effective methods for getting shit done, so why change what works? Right?"

"Right," Jason affirmed. "And you're so good at what you do," he shamelessly complimented her. 

Harley giggled.

"Thank you, baby. But…" she chewed her lip. "My whole life now is pretty much devoted to making amends."

"Amends?" Jason asked her.

"Yeah," Harley said heavily, "for all the people I hurt and killed when I was with the Joker." 

She glanced at him.

"I know I can't actually make up for what I did. But, I have to try to do what I can. If my criminal skill set can make someone else's life easier, if that someone is struggling because of what I did to them… I try to help, you know?"

"Yeah?" Jason said, truly interested. "Like how?"

"Well," Harley said, "it took a long time, I had to go through so many news articles and public records and social media sites, but I made a big database of everyone I'd killed. Or maimed. Just mine," she said, sighing. 

"If I added Mistah J's too, I'd really never finish. I mean, I won't finish as it is, but I might as well be slightly realistic about what I can accomplish."

"What kind of stuff do you do?" Jason asked her, feeling a warm glow in his chest, almost not believing that this was _his_ girl who was so good-hearted that she was trying to repair damage that wasn't even, technically, her fault. 

_How did I get so fuckin' lucky?_ he wondered in awe.

"Sometimes I anonymously give money to their immediate families," Harley said. "That's the easiest, of course, but one death destroys a whole world," she sighed.

"I will never be able to track down all of the people affected by even one life that I took," she said with some tears forming. "And most of the damage is emotional, anyway." 

Jason brushed her tears away with his thumb as she continued.

"But I track family members and friends on social media and if I see a problem I can fix, I kind of work behind the scenes to do it," she said. 

"Sometimes I try to scare 'em straight if they start going down the wrong path," she said, "but not directly, because they all hate me so much. I use my crew for that," she winked.

"Sometimes they need to be checked into rehab, or forced into therapy - I mean they have to want for those to work for it to work, but I can at least shove them in the right direction," she said.

"I make sure all the kids get college scholarships," she went on. "Lots of stuff." 

She picked at a corner of the afghan. 

"I'll be doing this my whole life, but that's ok," she said quietly. "They'll be dealing with their losses their whole lives, so." 

She shrugged slightly, looking up at him a little shyly.

"It's not very much, but it's something."

"It's everything," Jason said back to her with some intensity. "It's everything amazing about you. It's why I love you," he added. 

"You have such a generous heart, Harley Quinn," he said, taking her face in his hands. 

"You saw me in the halls at Arkham and the next thing I knew you were there breaking me out just because I was someone you'd seen the Joker hurt."

"And don't protest," he said when she made like she was going to argue with him.

"You are special and you have always been special. You found something to love in someone who the rest of the world saw as a monster," he went on, "and that's not something to be ashamed of. That's a rare gift to have a heart so sweet that you can find good in anyone."

"I wish I hadn't in him," Harley murmured.

"I know," Jason said. "And, not your fault. I will never stop telling you that.”

”But whatever you did with him," he added, "you did because you loved him. You didn't do it out of a hateful heart that wanted to kill and destroy.”

”You've never stopped being a good person, babe," Jason said passionately, "and I love you so much for it." 

Harley smiled even though there was still some sadness in her eyes.

"I love you, too, Jay," she said, giving him a kiss before hugging him to her.

"And you know," Jason said thoughtfully turning to face her, "if you ever have a charity case you need Red Hood's help with… that's something else I'd definitely put the Hood back on for," he said, with a kind of excited grin on his face. 

"I'd actually really enjoy that," he added.

Harley smiled even bigger. 

"That would be awesome, babe." Then she frowned. 

"Why'd you say something else?"

Jason raised his eyebrow.

"Something _else_ you'd put the Hood on for," Harley clarified. "I thought you were retiring."

"Except for sex," Jason reminded her playfully. 

Harley giggled as he started kissing her neck.

"I was teasin' but if you're serious… we'll go get that Hood out of storage tomorrow," she laughed up at him. 

Jason's eyes met hers, warm and affectionate, and Harley knew that she, too, was the lucky one.


	7. Chapter 7

Batman activated his comm with a frown.

"Robin, BatGirl, gunfire's lighting up Gotham Docks. I'm going to go check it out. Stand by in case I need backup."

"Will do, Bats," Tim Drake's voice crackled across the comm.

"Roger, B," Stephanie's voice echoed.

Bruce swung across rooftops to head towards the harbor, wondering what new drama the Gotham gangs had stirred up between themselves that could result in such a large firefight.

He'd been fearing the worst since Jason had disappeared from prison a few months ago but Red Hood had yet to resurface and Bruce hoped against hope that this didn't involve him… but the sinking feeling in his gut was confirmed when he crept through the shadows and saw Red Hood and … Harley Quinn? standing in the midst of an ocean of dead bodies that littered the docks, corpses still oozing blood.

Harley was gesturing with her gun and ranting at the lone unmasked figure left standing.

"... and you tell your boys that everychild in Gotham is under Harley and the Hood's protection, now. No recruitin'. No rapin'. No killin' the kids _or_ their families. You stay the fuck away from the school kids or it'll be your crew lyin' here dead. You got me?"

"I got you," the man answered, who Bruce realized was wearing the colors of the GC-Bangers, one of the two largest gangs in Gotham.

Bruce narrowed his eyes, assessing the dead bodies, noting that everyone fallen was in Demonic Darkness gear.

"You two are some crazy shits," the GCB leader commented as he started to leave, looking around the docks appreciatively.

"But thanks for the favor," he added before slipping away into darkness.

Bruce let him go.

"That went well," Jason said to Harley, grinning as he holstered his guns.

"Yeah," Harley replied, doing the same, "but it don't change what happened to Silvie."

"I know," Jason said quietly, sombering.

Batman stepped out of the shadows.

"Red Hood. Harley," he growled. "Care to explain what you're doing out of Arkham?"

Jason and Harley whirled towards him, whipping their weapons back out. Harley stepped in front of Jason protectively, training her gun on Bruce's face.

"We're doin' what you should be doin', but won't 'cause you're too big of a pussy," Harley snapped.

"You don't know shit about how to stop gang violence, Bats, and this don't concern you. Walk the fuck away."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Bruce said, casually pulling out a batarang.

Jason moved to the side of Harley, getting ready to defend her.

"I'd hoped you were going to lay off the killing," Bruce said to Jason, meeting his eyes with disappointment.

Jason tensed. Harley's veneer seemed to crack and she stepped towards Bruce practically snarling.

"And _I_ would have hoped that Jason's father would have had more humanity than to lock his son in solitary confinement but I guess having a simple conversation is too scary for the Bat to deal with."

"Excuse me?" Bruce growled at her, shifting his eyes away from Jason to the fiery inferno spitting nails in front of him.

"I mean, really, how hard is it to say 'welcome back from the dead, son, I'm sorry I was such a piece of shit father that I got you killed.'"

Bruce inhaled on a sharp hiss.

"Your boyfriend was the one who killed him," Bruce raged back at her, lowering the batarang as he stepped forward closer to get in Harley's face.

"Do you even remember that, Jason?" Bruce snapped at him, whipping his head to glare at Jason's face, which was shocked under his hood.

"The Joker killed you. So what the fuck are you doing with Harley Quinn?"

"Do I remember _?_ " Jason said softly at first, like he couldn't believe the question.

He took his hood off and stepped forward, pulling Harley back as he confronted Bruce.

" _Do I remember?"_ Jason screamed at him, suddenly shoving Bruce in the chest.

"Yes, _Dad,_ I do fucking remember the Joker beating me to a bloody pulp with the crowbar.”

”I _remember_ every fucking time that it came down and broke another bone. I _remember_ him laughing at me as he rigged the bombs to blow the warehouse."

Jason's chest was heaving and Bruce had stepped back a few paces, blinking tears away rapidly and looking shaken. Jason advanced on him again.

"And you know what I remember most of all, _Dad_?" Jason snarled at him.

"I remember my father putting the goddamn mask on me in the first place when I was fourteen."

Jason's voice broke and he half-turned away, rubbing a hand to his head and trying not to cry.

Bruce's voice shook as he spoke.

"You wanted… you wanted to be Robin…" he said softly.

"Bull _shit!_ " Harley's voice rang out strong and furious as she strode up to him, reaching a hand out sideways to squeeze Jason's bicep in comfort.

"Let me tell you something, _Bruce_ ," she hissed with venom.

Bruce's head snapped back at hearing his first name as if he'd been punched.

His mouth fell open as he looked at Jason with deep hurt written all over his features, but Jason wouldn't turn back to face him and Harley continued.

"No child can consent to an inherently dangerous activity. They are legally incapable because they are fucking minors," she spat at him, her voice tightening up into full-on Dr. Quinzel as she went on the attack.

"Legally, morally, and ethically, you are a fucking child abuser," she fumed at him.

"Do you know what most adoptive parents do when their children have trouble adjusting? They get them therapy _._ They consult professionals.”

”They do not train their children to become vigilantes and push them out to put their lives on the line every single night when they should be at home sleeping so they can get up and do well in schoolthe next day."

Bruce swallowed.

"I was… I was trying to help." His voice came out rasping and broken.

"Ignorance is not an excuse for child abuse," Harley snapped.

"No one in their right minds would think endangering your son's life was 'helping.' Do you know what the definition of insanity is, Bruce?" Harley didn't wait for an answer.

"Repeating the same action but expecting different results."

She stared coldly at him.

"How many more broken kids with daddy issues have you manipulated into wearing costumes since Jason died _?_ "

Bruce froze, not answering. Harley stalked closer.

"By my count, it's at least three," she hissed. "At least Mistah J stopped at one."

Bruce inhaled sharply.

"Don't compare me to him. I'm nothing like him -" Bruce started to say, glancing to Jason for confirmation - and stopped mid-sentence, shocked at the accusatory disgust smoldering in Jason's eyes.

Bruce faltered.

"... Jason?" he whispered, begging.

Jason held his gaze for a long minute, unrelenting, before turning to Harley.

"Let's go," he said quietly.

Without a word to Bruce, who was stumbling backwards, Harley wrapped herself around Jason who reached up an arm to shoot a grappling hook.

They zipped out of Bruce's sight as his back found the side of a shipping container and he slid down to the ground, his breathing ragged and his heart thumping oddly in his chest.

Bruce didn't even notice the tears running down his cheeks as he sat staring at nothing, the condemnation in Jason's eyes still floating before his face.

 _I'm not…_ he thought. _I didn't…_

"Bats?" Tim's voice came over the comm. "How's everything at the docks? Do you need backup?"

Bruce didn't answer.


	8. Chapter 8

Jason and Harley climbed in the window of the burned out apartment where they stored some of their vigilante gear.

"Fuck _,_ " Jason muttered, ripping his hood off and rubbing his face.

His shoulders shook. Harley came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tight. Jason couldn't seem to stop shaking and his breathing was getting ragged.

Without a word, he spun around and picked Harley up under her legs, pushing her up against the wall and holding her there as he began to kiss her hard, punishing her mouth with his tongue.

Harley wrapped her legs around his waist and held onto his neck, returning his kisses but letting Jay take the lead.

"I need it rough," Jason growled against her mouth.

"Yes," Harley answered as she grabbed a breath. "Whatever you want, babe," she added on a gasp as Jason bit her neck where it met the shoulder.

"Tell me when you're wet enough," Jason muttered as he kept biting and nipping at her between kisses, grinding his cock into her unrelentingly.

With one hand he unzipped her kevlar Harlequin top, groaning as he realized her sports bra didn't give him easy access to her boobs. Harley giggled.

"Pull the bottom band up and roll it over them," she instructed, hanging on tighter to Jason's neck for a minute as he used both hands to wrangle her breasts out of the confining sportswear.

They both sighed as he got them free and began to fondle them, pinching the already hard nipples and massaging them more roughly than normal.

"Tell me if it's too much," Jason rasped before taking one in his mouth and sucking hard before biting down on the nipple with his front teeth while rolling and squeezing her other C-cup in his left hand.

" _Fuck_ , that's good," Harley gasped as he matched a particularly hard love bite with a sharp pinch from his hand.

"Fuck, Jay," she muttered, grinding back against him just as hard as he was now and digging her heels into his rock-hard butt.

"I'm ready," she panted a few minutes later.

Jason set her back down and undid her pants, sliding them down to the floor with her panties.

"Turn around," he commanded her. "Hands on the wall."

"Yes, sir _!"_ Harley said with relish and a wink, sticking her ass out towards him with her pants pooled around her ankles.

Jason already had his cock out but instead of slamming it into her, he smacked her hard across her muscular butt cheek. The crack echoed in the burnt out room.

" _Shit,_ " Harley hissed. "More."

Jay continued spanking her ass hard as Harley cursed out words of encouragement to him.

When she started to squeal and beg and her lubrication was leaking down her leg, Jason finally grabbed her hips and thrust his cock in hard and deep, barely giving Harley a chance to adjust before he started pounding her as hard as he wished he could pound out the memories in his brain or the pain in his heart.

Harley, bless her heart, was screaming in pleasure and twerking back at Jason as enthusiastically as he was fucking her.

Jason grabbed her hair with one hand and tugged back on it sharply, making Harley come all over him while he continued to thrust.

When she finished, he pulled out and flipped her back around to face him. Glancing down, he realized that her tight pants were still around her ankles since he hadn't bothered getting her boots off.

"My legs on your shoulders?" Harley suggested, as they both tried to puzzle out the fastest position to get into.

"With the pants behind your neck?"

Jason cracked a tiny grin as she leaned against the wall and spread her legs out so he could crawl up underneath them and pick her back up.

"It's good you're so flexible," Jason grunted as he got them steadied and thrust back up into her.

Harley giggled.

"One of my many talents," she agreed, kissing him greedily as he regained his furious pace.

Jason squeezed and massaged her butt as he held her up, making her moan even harder and he sucked at her tongue and kissed her back as desperately as she was doing to him.

"Fuck, Jay, I'm gonna come again," Harley moaned in a few minutes.

"Good," Jason said back. "Do it," he commanded.

Her pussy fluttered and then clamped down on him tight and Jay groaned as he came with her long and hard, shooting his cum up inside of her.

When he finally stopped, Jason leaned her back gently against the wall for a minute with her still on his cock, both of them breathing hard and covered in sweat. He pressed his forehead to hers.

"I love you so damn much, Harley Quinzel Todd," he said to her, panting.

"And I love you so damn much, Jay House-Husband Todd," Harley said back to him, reaching up for a kiss.

Jason kissed her long and sweet this time as Harley ran her fingers through his hair. She sighed happily when he pulled away.

"We've never had sex before with the Hood off but the rest of it on," she mused thoughtfully as Jason gently maneuvered them down.

"That's a younger man for you, baby, constantly keeping it fresh," Jay teased her.

Harley giggled as they started to get undressed to change back into their civilian clothes.

"I admit I may have misjudged the value of a younger lover," Harley agreed with a smile. "But only because of low self-esteem."

"I know this fantastic psychologist who could help you with that," Jason told her.

"Oh, I don't know," Harley said back. "I hear a certain vigilante is pretty good at making his woman feel amazing about herself. I might have to give him a call."

"Anyone I know?" Jason quipped at her, squeezing her waist affectionately from behind as she took her make-up off.

Harley giggled again before getting a little sad.

"I'm sorry tonight was so brutal with Bruce showing up," she said, turning her head back to meet Jason's eyes.

He sighed.

"Yeah, that got ugly, huh?"

Harley sighed, too.

"It needed to, though," she comforted him. "He wouldn't have heard the truth otherwise."

Harley put her hands on Jason's shoulders.

"I know it sucks right now, but maybe in the long run you'll sleep a little better now that you've finally said it to his face."

"I hope so," Jason said, pulling her into a hug.

Harley squeezed her arms around him tight and laid her head on his chest.

"At least we got some awesome sex out of it," she giggled, making Jason laugh.

"Baby, you always see the bright side," he said appreciatively, kissing the top of her head.

"And you were fucking amazing the way you took Bruce down. Nobody's ever stood up for me like that, ever."

"Well, you can get used to it, now," Harley said, smiling as she turned her head to look up at him.

"Because anyone who even thinks about messing with either Jason Todd _or_ Red Hood is gonna have to come through Harley Fucking Quinn first and I do not take prisoners."

"Damn straight, JokerKiller," Jason said to her with a grin before pulling her into another long and tender kiss.

Harley made a little happy sound when he let her go.

"Let's get changed and go home so we can make some tea and cuddle," she said, stroking his cheek before pulling away to finish getting cleaned up.

"Anything for my baby," Jason said back.


	9. Chapter 9

"There he is," Tim said to Steph as they pulled up to the docks in the BatMobile.

In the headlights, they saw Batman slumped against a shipping container.

"Bats?" Steph called as she jumped out of the car and ran over to him. "B? What's wrong?"

"Are you hurt?" Tim asked, medkit in hand, as he, too, quickly approached Bruce's unmoving figure.

Bruce didn't answer. His eyes were open and he was staring vacantly into the distance. Tears lined his cheeks.

"B?" Steph asked again, on a whisper this time, gently picking up his hand and squeezing it to see if she got a response.

Bruce's hand stayed limp in hers.

Tim was carefully feeling around his arms and legs for wounds and checking his armor. When he didn't find any obvious signs of distress, he pulled a flashlight from his belt and shone it into Bruce's pupils.

Batman's hand snapped up and caught Tim's wrist in an iron vise, forcing the light away from his face.

"I'm fine," Bruce growled out.

"You're not," Steph contradicted. "What the hell happened here, B?"

Bruce closed his eyes as if in pain and shook his head slightly.

"Nothing," he rasped out.

Tim was scanning the docks, taking in the scene of slaughter.

"We need to go," he said with concern, turning back to Bruce and Steph.

"BatGirl, help me get him into the BatMobile and you drive him home. I'll get there on my own."

"Ok," Steph agreed, moving to grab Bruce's arm to help him up.

Bruce didn't resist as Tim grabbed his other arm and they pulled him to his feet. When Tim moved to put his arm around Bruce's waist to help him walk, though, he got shoved off roughly.

"I said I'm fine," Bruce snapped. "I can walk."

Robin and BatGirl exchanged a worried glance behind his back. Batman walked heavily to the passenger side of the BatMobile, his shoulders low and defeated.

"I'm scared," Steph whispered to Tim.

"I know," Tim replied. "I'll comm Alfred on my way home and get him updated and ready to help."

Steph nodded and followed Bruce to the BatMobile, giving Tim one final look before getting in to drive Bruce home.

When Steph pulled into the BatCave not much later, Alfred and Damian were there waiting. Bruce remained seated and didn't even open his door.

Alfred stepped forward and did it for him but Bruce still didn't move.

"Father?" the tiny seven-year old asked with concern around Alfred's back.

"There, now, Master Bruce, come along now," Alfred said in a comforting tone, gently tugging Bruce's hand as if he was a small child.

Bruce turned his head to his elderly butler slowly and reluctantly followed the hand that Alfred was pulling out of the car.

"That's right, Master Bruce," Alfred continued to coddle, "let's just get this armor off, shall we?" he said, already working to remove the Batsuit while Bruce stood unmoving on the BatMobile platform.

Steph came around to help and together they got Bruce undressed, handing the gear to Damian as they worked.

"Now then," Alfred said when Bruce was stripped down to his boxers, "I think bed and a cup of tea is in order."

And clucking like a mother hen, he gently but firmly walked Bruce off to the elevator, Steph and Damian's eyes following them in wide-eyed wonder.

"What is wrong with my Father?" Damian asked Steph.

"I don't know," she answered, truly worried. "Let's put this stuff away before Robin gets back, ok?" she said to him, bending to pick up Bruce's cowl and cape.

Damian took the suit and together they walked to their dressing area. Steph took the Batsuit from Damian to hang it while he ran back for the boots and belt.

After that, there was nothing to do but wait for Tim. Steph spun herself around in a chair, nervously fidgeting. Damian sat still, silently reflecting.

"Robin said my Father was not wounded," he said eventually.

"No," Steph said. "You could see that he didn't have any external injuries."

"Did he receive a blow to the head?" Damian theorized.

Steph frowned.

"His cowl would have protected him from any head injuries, I think. And there weren't any bullet marks or scuffs on it."

She paused.

"I think… I think he was _crying_ , D." Damian shook his head.

"My Father does not cry."

"I know," Steph said, her voice betraying her deep concern. "But… he was."

"What could make my Father cry?" Damian asked seriously.

Steph chewed her lip and slowly swung her chair around to look at Jason's tattered Robin uniform, encased in glass. Damian followed her eyes.

Tim came walking in as they sat gazing at the memorial, sighing heavily as he approached them.

"How's Bruce?" he asked immediately.

"Not good," Steph said. "Alfred had to coax him out of the car and he's babying him now in bed with tea."

Tim whistled softly.

"What the hell?" he muttered. "What the hell happened _?_ "

"Do you think Red Hood was there?" Steph asked hesitantly.

Tim glanced at her sharply, then looked back at the death display and groaned a little bit.

"It's certainly likely, given the carnage, but why would that upset Bruce so much more now than it did before?"

"I don't know," Steph said, worried. "Let's see what Al says when he comes back down. If anyone can get old B to talk, it would be him."

Upstairs, Alfred had already tucked Bruce into bed and was just returning with a hot cup of tea.

"Chamomile," he said to Bruce. "Just the thing for an upset."

Bruce took it from him wordlessly and blew on it a little bit before taking a sip.

Alfred broke protocol by sitting on the bed to regard him.

"Now then, sir, you tell old Alfred what all this is about," he commanded gently.

Bruce's eyes, remarkably, began to tear up again. Alfred reached out and took Bruce's muscular hand in his wrinkled, veiny one.

"There now, Master Bruce, a trouble shared is a trouble halved," Alfred advised.

Bruce looked at him, chin shaking.

"Was I… Was I a bad father?" he asked Alfred in a whisper.

"A bad father?" Alfred asked in disbelief. "No one has loved their children more, sir. Who's been filling your head with this rubbish?"

Bruce took a ragged breath.

"I saw Jason down at the docks. With… with Harley Quinn."

Alfred made a noise of disgust but his voice was filled with regret when he spoke.

"I suppose he isn't our Jason then, is he."

Bruce started to choke on some sobs.

"I thought that, too, but - he remembers _,_ Alfred. He remembers it all. He told me - he said -"

Bruce couldn't go on and Alfred squeezed his hand in encouragement.

"Harley said I abused him by making him into Robin. And Jason agreed with her. He looked at me like - like - she said I was worse than the Joker," Bruce whispered.

"The _Joker_ _,_ Alfred. She said I take damaged kids with daddy issues and trick them into putting their lives at risk."

Bruce's voice broke in despair.

"Is that what I've done, Alfred? Oh, God…"

Bruce wiped his face as the tears relentlessly flowed.

"Sir," Alfred started.

But he stopped, uncertainty clouding his face.

"I got my son killed," Bruce rasped out.

"Now, sir," Alfred said with more confidence. "You've wrestled with that burden for a long time and we both know that that madman was to blame for Jason's death. Not you."

"I put the mask on him," Bruce countered in a guilt-stricken voice.

"That's what he said to me. He said I put the mask on him when he was fourteen and he was so angry and hurt and he told me, he _told_ me what it was like getting beaten before he died… "

Bruce broke down into full sobs, drawing his knees up into his chest.

Alfred moved forward and took Bruce's heaving body into his arms like he was a child again, patting his back as he cried.

Bruce noticed after a minute that Alfred's back was shaking, too, and he pulled away to see tears lining the face of his aged butler. Alfred looked almost as lost as he felt.

"Oh, Alfred," Bruce said, gripping his upper arms tightly.

"Jason wasn't your fault. He was mine. All mine. You're not to blame."

Alfred shook his head at that.

"I don't know, sir, I don't know," he murmured. "Perhaps I am to blame.”

”Letting you run around town as the Bat, putting yourself into all kinds of dangerous situations. Perhaps I should have intervened. Perhaps I should have stopped you."

"No, Alfred," Bruce insisted. "I would have done it with or without your permission."

Alfred hesitated, guilt lining his features.

"I… did have concerns about you taking young Jason out," Alfred said quietly.

Bruce inhaled sharply.

"You never said anything," he said to him.

"I know, sir," Alfred agreed. "You were his father, and I … did not want to presume."

Alfred sighed.

"And… I believe, perhaps, I should have."

Bruce drew back from Alfred, fear lancing his features.

"So you think Harley was right?" Bruce asked his oldest friend and guardian in a tight voice.

Alfred winced and looked away.

"Alfred!" Bruce insisted, starting to look desperate.

"You think she's right? You think I was abusing Jason?"

"Abusing is a strong word, sir," Alfred hedged, not meeting Bruce's eyes.

Bruce began to shake as the fears plaguing him since the docks settled themselves assertively under his skin and claimed the truth.

"Alfred _!"_ Bruce barked in an angrier voice. "You thought I was doing wrong by Jason and you just _let_ me?"

Wounded betrayal and brokenness reverberated through the end of Bruce's question and Alfred hung his head.

"I am ashamed of myself, sir," Alfred said softly. "I told myself I was doing right by not interfering but… I was wrong. And a coward," he added.

"No, Alfred," Bruce argued, not willing to hear Alfred belittle himself.

Alfred shook his head ruefully.

"Perhaps this is our problem, sir." He met Bruce's eyes. "We each excuse the other's poor decisions."

Alfred sighed.

"And in the end, we fail each other… and those we love."

Alfred blinked as more tears fell down his cheeks. Bruce drew in a ragged breath and ran his hands through his hair.

"I'm a monster," he whispered.

"No more than I am, sir," Alfred said quietly.

The Bat and the Butler sat gravely on the bed, regarding each other in mutual dismay and guilt.


	10. Chapter 10

Tim came stomping back down to the BatCave after his trip upstairs to check on Bruce and Alfred.

"I'm calling Dick," he said to Steph and Damian.

"Dick _?_ " Steph asked.

"What is the situation with my Father?" Damian asked but Tim had already started the call.

"Nightwing here, how's it going, BatCave?" they heard Dick Grayson's voice over the comm system.

"We need you here," Tim said tightly. "Now _."_

"What's the situation, Robin?" Dick's voice immediately became all business.

"Bruce and Alfred are upstairs crying _,_ " Tim said, his voice conveying the utter befuddlement and concern they all felt at the situation.

"We think it might be about Jason but Bats won't tell us anything. All he said is that no one is allowed to go out on patrol. For any reason."

"What the fuck _?_ " Dick said. 

The trio of Bat pups could practically hear his jaw hitting the floor.

"I'm on my way," Dick said, cutting off the comm link.

Steph, Damian, and Tim looked at each other in worried puzzlement.

"Alfred was crying, too?" Steph asked Tim.

"Yeah," Tim answered. "And he was sitting on the bed _._ "

Steph's eyes went wide and Damian frowned.

"That is a most unusual breach of etiquette for Alfred Pennyworth," he announced in a perturbed voice. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know," Tim muttered back. "Maybe they'll talk to Dick." 

He couldn't keep a small amount of hurt out of his voice.

"We should assemble our clues while we wait and deduce the most logical explanation for my Father's actions," Damian persisted.

"What clues, Damian?" Tim said in disgusted frustration. "We've got no information."

"We've got no information that we know for sure is relevant," Steph argued thoughtfully, "but there are a lot of bits and pieces that might be clues."

"Like what?" Tim said bitterly.

"Make a spreadsheet to keep track while we talk," Steph ordered him, turning to Damian.

"First hypothesis," she said. "This has something to do with Jason."

Damian nodded.

"Fact," he said. "Jason Todd and Harley Quinn escaped from Arkham Asylum on the same night approximately ten weeks ago."

"Fact," Steph said, "there was a brutal slaughter of gang members down at the docks tonight."

"Which gangs were involved?" Damian asked, since he hadn't been there. Steph frowned, trying to think.

She had been much more focused on Bruce than the dead bodies.

"Demonic Darkness," Tim said from the computer. "Only DD, come to think of it. At least, the only dead bodies I saw were wearing DD."

"We didn't check them all, though," Steph pointed out. "And it was dark."

"True," Tim said.

"Hypothesis," Steph said. "Red Hood was somehow involved in tonight's killings."

Tim huffed in frustration.

"We're back to guesses," he complained. "We don't know enough."

"Fact," Damian countered, "Red Hood hasn't made any public appearances since escaping Arkham."

"Has Harley?" Steph asked thoughtfully. Tim searched the relevant notes on the BatComputer.

"Yeah," he said finally. "She was caught on a security camera killing a restaurant chef in their kitchen with her giant hammer about a month after she got out."

Steph made a noise of disgust.

"May I see the footage?" Damian asked with eager interest, coming over to the computer, but Tim swatted his hand away from the mouse.

"It can't be coincidence that Harley and Jason escaped the same night from Arkham," Steph said, tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair.

"Bats had Jason on full lockdown with a 24-7 security feed straight here to the BatCave,” she said. “There's no way he could have escaped on his own."

"We already figured Harley got him out," Tim pointed out. "But we haven't been able to confirm why."

"Father has been concerned that she was going to deliver him back to the Joker to kill again," Damian said.

Steph gasped but Tim nodded grimly.

"I know," he said. "Bats has had me up my search for the Joker tenfold since Jason disappeared. But he's become slipperier than an eel. As soon as he pops up one place, he's gone again."

"And Jason's tracker was disabled after he escaped, right?" Steph confirmed.

Tim sighed.

"He didn't have one." Steph’s mouth made an O.

"Why not?" she asked in disbelief. "There's no way B would have not implanted one after finally getting his hands on him."

"Waller wouldn't let him," Tim said. "She absolutely refusedto hold Jason in Arkham if Bats put a tracker implant in. Said Bats wasn't above the law, immoral, illegal, blah blah blah."

"So, ok," Steph said. "Is it possible that tonight's bloodbath was meant to lure Bats there so Harley and Joker could show off that they'd killed Jason again? That would definitely make Al cry if Jason had died for a second time, even if he's not the same Jason he used to be."

Tim looked at her with some horror on his face.

"That's … pretty logical," he said with reluctant fear in his voice. "I hope it's wrong. But it fits."

He shook his head, though.

"I didn't see any dead bodies except the gang members, though. And none by where Bruce was sitting."

"They could have kept the body with them," Damian pointed out. "Or destroyed it underwater."

He steepled his fingers together under his chin as he thought.

"Dissolved it in a barrel of acid. Brought only the severed head."

"Stop _!"_ Steph and Tim both said as Damian showed no signs at all of slowing down.

Tim sighed.

"Well, let's hope Bats will spill the beans to his _favorite_ Robin," he muttered bitterly, pushing away from the BatComputer and stalking towards the elevator.

"Let me know when Nightwing gets here," he called grumpily over his shoulder.

"Tim, wait up!" Steph said in concern, starting to jog after him. "D, stay here and wait for Dick, ok?"

"Of course," Damian said politely, sitting in the BatComputer chair as soon as they were gone and immediately clicking through the recent searches to find the video of Harley Quinn's culinary deathcapade.

With a gleaming glint in his eye but a certain scholarly detachment, he clicked 'play'.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11** _

"Little D," Nightwing, aka Dick Grayson, greeted Damian as he strode into the BatCave.

"You on duty alone?" he asked curiously, noting the strangely empty cave.

"Yes," Damian answered. "Tim is now upset, too. Possibly crying," Damian added informationally but without much concern. "Stephanie went after him."

"Seriously, what the fuck _?_ " Dick sputtered in mystified frustration.

Sitting down next to Damian as he took his mask off, he looked at him with the respect due an equal.

"Give me the rundown of what you know," he ordered.

Damian went down the list, ticking off points on his fingers as went.

"Father was out patrolling and saw gunfire at the docks. He called in and went to investigate,” Damian began.

“When Robin checked in with him approximately twenty minutes later to see if he needed backup, Father did not answer his comm, although his life sensor showed that he was still alive,” Damian said as Dick frowned in concentration.

“Robin and BatGirl followed his tracker and went to retrieve him in the BatMobile,” the tiny boy continued. “Father was most unresponsive, although conscious, when he arrived home and we had to undress him without his help. Alfred put him to bed and never returned.”

”BatGirl informed me that Father had been crying down at the docks, and you _know_ that my Father does not cry."

Damian gave Dick a very pointed look and Dick nodded in total agreement, worry creasing his brows.

"Robin went to go check on Alfred and Father. When he returned, he called you. Then he left to presumably cry as well and BatGirl went after him,” Damian said somewhat scornfully.

“Oh, and before that we theorized reasons as to why my Father was crying in this spreadsheet."

Damian pulled it up for him and Dick scanned it thoughtfully.

"What was Tim crying about?" he asked Damian.

"Presumably crying," Damian clarified.

"Presumably," Dick amended with a little half-grin.

"His feelings were hurt that Father would not tell him what had happened at the docks and he assumed the reason to be that he was not Father's favorite Robin.”

”Which, of course, he is not," Damian answered calmly, causing Dick to sputter out a disbelieving laugh at his cool yet candid assessment of the situation.

"Although," Damian continued, "we cannot know for certain if that is why Father chose not to divulge the events of the dock to him."

"All right," Dick said, standing up. "I'll go see what I can shake out of Bruce and Alfred. We'll let Steph handle Tim for now. Keep holding down the fort, Little D," he said, ruffling Damian's hair affectionately.

"Naturally," Damian replied.

Upstairs, Dick knocked on Bruce's partially opened door and got no answer.

When he pushed it open to enter anyway, he was met with one of Bruce's ferocious glares and Alfred's baleful eyes, both of which changed to surprise at seeing Dick instead of one of their resident Batlings as they had been expecting.

Bruce's surprise quickly gave way to a surly scowl, however, as he returned his gaze to staring down at his bedsheets.

"Oh, Master Dick," Alfred quavered from the armchair next to the bed where he was now sitting.

Astonishingly, he didn't rise to greet him.

"Bruce, Alfred…" Dick said slowly, coming into the room and sitting on the foot of the bed. "Want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Bruce heaved out a sigh and didn't answer while Alfred merely sniffled as his chin wobbled while he dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief.

"Ok," Dick said briskly. "Pity party is over. Tell me what the fuck is going on, Bruce, or I'll beat it out of you."

"Go ahead," Bruce muttered. "I deserve it."

"We both do," Alfred echoed. "You may beat us both to a bloody pulp, Master Dick," he sighed in contrition.

"What. The. Fuck." 

Dick ground out in exasperation, pushing his hands back through his hair.

" _Bruce!_ Explain the docks. _Now._ "

When Bruce continued to silently ignore him, keeping his head down, Dick stood and walked closer to him, reseating himself facing Bruce at the head of the bed right next to him this time.

"Bruce?" Dick said gently, reaching out with his left hand to take his.

Bruce lifted his head a quarter of an inch and Dick slapped him with his right hand as hard as he could across the face.

Bruce let out a small grunt and his startled eyes had hardly met Dick's impatient ones before Dick was slapping him with his left hand. Still, it took two more slaps and Dick's hand coming in for a third blow before Bruce finally caught Dick's arm and blocked the attack.

"Fine _!_ " Bruce growled out.

"You want to know, Dick? Jason was down at the docks with Harley Quinn and he explained to me in graphic detail how he remembers Joker beating him to a pulp before blowing him to bits and then he and Harley accused me of child abuse for making him Robin and - _I don't think they're wrong_."

Bruce said the last sentence in a rush of misery.

"Nor do I, I'm afraid," Alfred murmured from the chair, his voice heartbreakingly fragile and filled with tears.

"We are both responsible, Master Bruce," Alfred asserted to him again. "I could have stopped you with young Master Jason. I should have. I should have _…_ " he trailed off brokenly.

"What _?"_ Dick's jaw dropped in disbelief, turning from Bruce to Alfred and back again.

"Child abuse? What the hell, Bruce, you didn't abuse Jason. He was getting into all kinds of shit at school and his temper was gonna get somebody killed sooner rather than later. You helped him channel it."

"Harley said I put his life at risk instead of getting him therapy and that makes me a child abuser," Bruce muttered.

"He didn't want to be Robin, Dick," Bruce added, looking up at his first sidekick in anguish.

"You should have seen the way he looked at me. He never - I thought he did, but - _God,_ what did I do to him?" Bruce ended on a whisper, wiping his eyes with the heels of his hand.

"I got him killed. And now he hates me."

Dick stirred uncomfortably on the bed.

"It's really him? Inside his head, I mean?"

He rubbed at his hair.

"Don't you think Harley and Joker probably brainwashed him to say all that?"

Bruce shook his head.

"It was Jason _,_ " he asserted.

"You know that when he didn't come see us after coming back to life that we all thought it couldn't really be him in there, especially since he'd been going on killing sprees. But, I guess he just hated me," Bruce murmured.

"Why would you come back to see your father after rising from the dead if he was the one who got you killed?" he said in quiet bitterness.

Dick was breathing heavily through his nostrils and when he spoke, he was angry.

"Of all the ungrateful…" he muttered, but cut himself off when Bruce gave him a hard look.

"You think Jasonis ungrateful?" Bruce snapped angrily at Dick. "To me?" 

Bruce laughed sarcastically in disbelief.

"I got him _killed_ ," Bruce repeated again with more heat.

Dick shook his head.

"That's not the way I see it, Bruce," he argued. "Jason was heading for trouble and you gave him discipline. He ran off after his birth mother against your express orders not to and it turned out to be a trap."

Bruce's energy level was rising, but in an angry flow towards Dick.

"That doesn't mean that I had the right to make him Robin in the first place!" Bruce insisted with some venom at his one-time ward.

"You made me Robin!" Dick exploded. "I didn't get killed or all fucked up in the head from it. I turned out just fine."

Bruce started to growl out a response but Dick stood up abruptly to pace the room.

Turning back to face Bruce once again, he spit out, "I think you're letting Jason manipulate you like he always did."

"Manipulate me?" Bruce asked in disbelief, throwing off the bedsheets and standing up in his boxers to face Dick.

"You have alwayshad a problem with Jason," Bruce accused him angrily. "Why should now be any different?"

"Because _he's_ not any different!" Dick spat back. "He was a punk as a kid and he's a punk now, still pulling shit, doing what he wants, and blaming other people for his own problems. And making _you_ feel guilty for it!" Dick added accusingly.

"Maybe I should have been more respectful of the fact that when he was a kid, he _was_ a _kid_ ," Bruce snarled at him.

"Maybe I didn't have the right to put him through what I did."

"Well, you were always easier on him than you were on me, so what else is new?"

Dick's voice cut through the room like a knife.

"Oh, there it is," Bruce said sarcastically. "I was wondering when your jealous monster was going to come out," he remarked snidely, stepping forward to get in Dick's face.

"You could never accept being replaced," Bruce taunted him. "Jason gets fucking killed and it's still not enough for you to grant him a little mercy, is it?"

" _Bullshit_ ," Dick barked at him. "Just because you can't see him for what he's always been does not mean I'm jealous of the little bastard. Make yourself a dozen new Robins for all I care."

"You do care, though, don't you Dick?" Bruce mocked him.

"Tell me something," he snarled, jabbing his finger into Dick's chest, "Were you even upset when Jason died? Or did you secretly think that he got what he deserved?"

Dick took a step back, jaw tight and chest heaving. He shook his head tightly.

"You know what? Fuck you, Bruce," he said, turning to leave the room.

"I come here to try and help you and this is the thanks I get? Have fun sulking," he rudely wished him, walking towards the door.

"Too bad you had to drag poor old Alfred into it," he added, looking back at his elderly butler and friend.

"Don't believe a word this shithead says to you, Alfred," he told him, pausing at the door.

"You're both nuts if you think either one of you did anything wrong with Jason. And since when are you listening to Harley Quinn, anyway?" he snarked at Bruce, before pulling the door open.

"That should have been your warning sign right there," he called as he walked out.

Damian cautiously crept back around the corner from where he had hidden upon hearing Dick start moving towards the door.

He lightly ran down a different set of stairs to beat Dick to the elevator and was sitting calmly in front of the BatComputer again by the time Dick came stalking back to the BatCave.

"Did you learn anything from my Father?" he asked Dick politely as Dick picked up and reattached his mask.

"Nothing new," Dick muttered. "Some things never change," he said bitterly, stomping off towards the exit.

Damian steepled his hands under his chin thoughtfully as Dick left, running through all of the information that he had just gathered from his eavesdropping mission.

Finally, with a satisfied nod, he got up to go find Tim and Stephanie.


	12. Chapter 12

Damian found Tim and Steph in the solarium, laying on lounge chairs.

Tim was looking gloomily up at the night sky while Steph had her head turned to him, clearly in the process of trying to cheer him up.

When Damian came in, Tim sat up abruptly.

"Is Dick here?" he asked urgently.

"He came and left," Damian answered, pulling up a chair to sit in.

"Damian!" Tim yelled in frustration and hurt. "You were supposed to come get me when he got here."

Damian eyed him coolly.

"It is good that I did not, as Dick chose not to share any of the information that he received from my Father with me."

"What?" Steph gasped. "Why would he keep it a secret?"

"They had an argument and Dick left quickly in a sulk," Damian explained, completely unperturbed.

"So it was good that I eavesdropped on their conversation," he added with a tiny smile.

Tim sucked in a quick breath.

"What did you learn?" he asked eagerly, leaning forward to listen intently.

Damian regarded him thoughtfully, then nodded to himself before proceeding.

"Jason and Harley Quinn were down at the docks. Together, they accused my Father of abusing him by making him into Robin against his own wishes,” the little boy said.

“My Father believes that Jason was not mind-altered in any way and was speaking the truth about his hatred of my Father."

"Oh, my God," Steph breathed. "He didn't want to be Robin?"

She and Tim looked at each other, Steph with a sick feeling in her stomach and Tim as if trying to work out a puzzle in his mind.

Damian cleared his throat to draw their attention back so that he could continue.

"Alfred feels mutually responsible for the alleged abuse as he did not prevent my Father from making Jason Todd into Robin."

"I guess that explains him crying, too," Tim murmured, mostly to himself.

"What about Dick?" Steph asked Damian. "What caused the argument?"

Damian, looking quite pleased with himself about being their sole source of information, continued his report.

"Dick did not believe that my Father abused Jason; rather, he believed that Jason was dangerous and manipulative,” Damian said with relish.

”My Father accused Dick of jealousy. Dick accused my Father of favoritism. Dick stormed out and left."

Tim and Steph let out a slow sigh each.

"Well," Steph said slowly. "That at least clears some things up. But, what do we do now? Bruce and Alfred are still upset?"

"Oh, yes," Damian affirmed. "Even more so after the argument with Dick."

"So, why was Jason with Harley Quinn?" Tim asked.

Damian nodded at him approvingly.

"That is exactly the riddle that we must solve. Even Dick Grayson commented on the oddity of my Father taking the word of Harley Quinn seriously."

"And, where's Joker?" Steph asked. "Jason's down at the docks with Harley, whose boyfriend killed him, and Harley is making sense when she talks?"

She bit her lip, reflecting for a moment.

"Do you think maybe they're a couple?" she asked Tim and Damian.

"Who, Jason and _Harley?_ " Tim responded with great doubt.

But Damian was agreeing with Steph.

"That is the most logical conclusion," he said.

"Harley Quinn broke Jason Todd out from Arkham. He has stayed with her apparently willingly despite remembering his death at the Joker's hands."

"And, Harley and Jason are on the same page about him being abused by Bruce. Those are awfully personal details to share with somebody you're not close to," Steph added.

"So what, though?" Tim said. "It doesn't seem like there's much we can do for Bruce at this point if this is some personal drama between him and Jason."

"We must be able to resume patrols," Damian argued. "So we cannot do nothing.”

”In fact, Timothy Drake, you should take steps to ensure our continued access to the BatCave should my Father decide to lock us out of it."

Tim snapped his head to Damian.

"You think he will?" he asked him nervously.

Damian nodded.

"As soon as my Father pulls his thoughts together, he will lock us out to prevent us from patrolling against his will. I do not believe that he will relent as he is currently mired in guilt over Jason Todd."

"And therefore feeling overprotective of us," Steph mused.

The Batling trio glanced at each other, and then, almost as one, rose to their feet and started quickly but quietly heading back to the BatCave.

They breathed a sigh of relief when they were still able to access the elevator and gain entrance to the cave.

"Ok," Tim muttered, serious and focused now, "let me get started on creating a backdoor access if Bruce activates the security lockout protocols.“

”You two grab our costumes and gear and hide them somewhere upstairs in the mansion in case I can't finish before Bruce snaps to,” Robin commanded.

"He'll notice they're missing," Steph pointed out.

"We can take last year's versions before Lucius's latest upgrade," Damian said. "And transfer the gear from our current belts to the old ones."

"Do it," Tim said, already typing away at the computer.

Together, Damian and Steph began loading up some duffels with everything that they might need in the case of a forced absence from the BatCave.

An hour later, after hiding not only their suits but as many extra weapons and tools as they could remove from storage without Bruce being likely to notice, they were sitting back down at the BatComputer with Tim, who was still frantically coding.

"What are your thoughts?" Steph asked Damian. "You seem like you have a plan on how to fix this, but honestly, it doesn't seem like a situation that we can help Bruce with at all."

"We cannot," Damian agreed with her. "Which is why we must convince Jason Todd to reconcile with my Father."

"Whoa, Damian," Tim breathed out, turning his head for a moment from the computer screen to stare at him.

"That does not sound like a viable plan. Or a safe one," he added, glancing at Steph for confirmation.

"You said Bruce and Dick already had a fight. And, if Jason really feels abused and angry, then how can you possibly convince him to come make up with Bruce? Especially in a way that ends with Bruce keeping us on the BatTeam."

"Yeah, I have to agree, D," Steph chimed in.

"This is some heavy baggage between the two of them. I don't know if it _can_ be fixed. Some things that break can only stay broken," she said.

"So, you will just accept the end of Robin, Bat-Mite, and BatGirl?" Damian asked her incredulously.

"And abandon Gotham back to being overrun by crime in a world without Batman? It is very unlikely that Nightwing will return to protect the city given his dispute with my Father."

Steph chewed her lip nervously.

"I don't know, D," she said hesitantly, looking to Tim for support. "I… you think he'd really permanently take us off the team?"

"Yes," Damian said seriously.

"And stop patrolling himself, even?" Tim asked.

"Yes," Damian said again. "He appears to be having what is called a nervous breakdown. And my Father can be most stubborn when he has made his mind up about something."

"Shit," Tim whispered.

Steph nodded her agreement.

"I'm not ready to give this up." She laughed a little bit.

"I don't know if I'll ever in my whole life be ready to give this up. It's not exactly a common thing for vigilantes to go hanging their masks up in the closet and taking a 9-5 office job."

She frowned.

"This is my life. This is _our_ life and _our_ city. We can't let Bruce abandon it all - or, well, he can hang up his mask if he needs to, but he doesn't have the right to stop us from going on."

"So what are we going to do, then?" Tim asked again. "You can't just force two angry, hurting people to make up with each other. Even if they wanted to, it's not that simple or easy."

"Which is precisely why we need a psychologist on our side," Damian said cunningly.

"Oh, _hell,_ no," Tim said at the same time that Steph said, "You cannot _possibly_ mean -"

"Yes," Damian nodded, feeling very proud of his carefully constructed plan.

"We need to find Harley Quinn."


	13. Chapter 13

"Jay?" Harley said hesitantly, looking down at her phone as she walked from the couch to climb onto a kitchen stool.

"What is it, wifey?" Jason asked her cheerfully as he continued chopping vegetables on the island.

Harley bit her lip.

"I got a message on my fake Facebook account from Damian Wayne."

Jason laid the knife down at that and quickly wiped his hands on his apron as he rounded the counter to look over Harley's shoulder at her phone.

Harley's brow was creased with worry as she showed him the private message.

_Dr. Quinzel, my Father is not well. We require your help at Wayne Manor. Hourly therapy rates will be paid in cash._

"What the hell?" Jason muttered.

"Right?" Harley said back. "How did they even know this was me? This is my amends account, it's total bullshit.”

”Like how would they even begin to know who or what to search for on Facebook when the entire thing is convincingly fake?" she said. 

"And what's up with them baiting you like that?" Jason asked. "They can't seriously think that you'll walk into their trap that easily."

"Damian's the little one," Harley thought out loud, "so I could blame him for coming up with a stupid ploy on his own but he must have had help finding my account, so what's the angle?“ she said.

”The older ones and possibly Bruce, too, are in on this and they're not idiots. Well -" she added apologetically, "not about crime fighting, at least. Real life, hell yes," she muttered bitterly.

"So, what do you want to do about it?" Harley asked Jason. "Do we contact Damian? Not back through Facebook, obviously, but should we find out what's going on?"

Jason sighed.

"I guess…" he muttered.

"We don't have to," Harley said. "We can just ignore it."

"No," Jason said reluctantly, "they'll start upping the ante if they're serious about contacting you. Let's grab the kid and figure out what the hell he really wants."

"How do you want to get him?" Harley asked. "Bat-Mite rarely patrols and never alone. And according to his Facebook profile, Damian Wayne is homeschooled."

"How convenient," Jason mocked Bruce sharply.

"Don't even let your kid go out into public anymore. Guess he got tired of phone calls home about his kids sleeping in class," Jason said bitterly.

"Does Wayne Manor still have a landline, do you think?" Harley asked Jason.

He cocked his head thoughtfully.

"Probably," he mused.

He grinned.

"And yes, I still know the number, as long as it hasn't changed or been disconnected. Burner phone?"  
  
Harley nodded.

"I'll go pick one up while you finish dinner, house-husband," she said affectionately, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him long and hard while he squeezed her middle tight.

After dinner, Harley and Jason sat side by side on their couch, staring at the phone like it was a timebomb.

"You ready?" Harley asked softly.

"Yeah," Jason answered, although he was clutching Harley's hand nervously.

"I can do it instead of you," she offered again.

Jason shook his head.

"If Alfred answers and it's you on the phone, he's more likely to give the phone to Bruce or the Replacement. If it's me, he might actually give it to Damian."

"Ok," Harley said supportively, squeezing his hand back.

Jason sighed like he was facing the guillotine and dialed the numbers, clicking the phone to speaker mode as it rang.

It rang. And rang. And rang.

Harley and Jason frowned at each other.

"Al should be picking up," he said. "He was always on the ball about etiquette and butler duties and stuff."

"Let's keep it ringing," Harley said.

They sat in tense silence, letting a slow minute tick by while the phone kept ringing without an answering machine or voicemail picking up.

A second minute began passing when the line abruptly clicked to life.

"Hel _lo?_ " an angry voice snarled.

Jason and Harley's breath caught at the same time, because it most definitely was not Alfred on the line.

" _Hello?"_ the menacing voice repeated.

"You've been blasting my eardrums letting the phone ring for the last five minutes and now you've got nothing to say?"

Jason took a shaky breath.

"I didn't know your ears were so sensitive, Pops," he rasped out quietly. "What's the matter, old man, got your hearing aids turned up too loud?"

There was a sharp intake of breath on the end of the line.

"Jason?" Bruce's voice said falteringly, losing all of its angry tenor and sounding heartbreakingly fragile, instead.

"Yeah," Jason replied, squeezing Harley's hand so hard that it hurt, but she didn't complain or let up her returning pressure on his.

She pressed her shoulder closer into his for support.

"What… what are you calling about, son?" Bruce asked so gently, sounding broken and the slightest, tiniest bit hopeful.

A surprised tear slid out of Jason's eye and he angrily wiped it away.

"Damian -" Jason started to say, but he had to pause to clear his throat.

"Damian, uh, contacted Harley."

"He did what _?_ " Bruce asked in surprise. "Why?"

He didn't sound overly angry or aggressive. In fact, Bruce sounded tired. Jason took a breath.

"Damian said you weren't well and he wanted to hire Harley to give you therapy. So we wanted to know what the hell he was up to."

Bruce had sputtered out a hoarse disbelieving laugh as soon as the word 'therapy' left Jason's mouth, and he sounded slightly grimmer and more like his old self when he answered, "I'd like to know the same thing."

"Are you unwell?" Harley asked neutrally.

They could hear Bruce take another surprised breath at hearing her voice, but he answered her question without heat.

"I don't think it matters if I'm well or not," he said, "compared to - to -" he was having trouble finishing his sentence.

"Compared to what, Bruce?" Harley prompted him gently.

Bruce's voice became clogged with tears.

"Compared to what I did to Jason," he finally choked out.

Jason's eyes went wide as he turned to Harley in surprise and he swallowed hard.

"Son, I never meant -" Bruce went on, then stopped himself.

"But it doesn't matter what I meant, I'm just so, so sorry and I would give _anything_ -"

His voice broke off into sobs.

Even Harley looked shaken at hearing the Dark Knight break down. Jason's jaw was shaking as tears were filling his eyes and he buried his face in Harley's shoulder, not wanting to make a sound to give himself away.

Harley held him and rubbed his head softly, listening to the sounds of Bruce's anguish and feeling the pain of her husband's.

Finally, Jason lifted his head and tried to steady his voice as he spoke.

"Sorry doesn't fix it, Pops," he said roughly over the tail end of Bruce's crying.

"I know," Bruce immediately answered. "God, I know," he repeated hopelessly.

"And I don't expect - I don't expect you to forgive me. But everything you said was true and I'm sorry. Even though it doesn't change anything," he ended in defeat.

"I just wanted you to know," he added quietly.

Jason inhaled on a sharp, deep hiss, his shoulders slumping afterwards as he let his breath back out and dropped his forehead into his hands. Harley rubbed circles on his back.

"Tell Harley -" Bruce added -

" - I'm still here," Harley said -

"- I shut down the patrols." Bruce finished. "Robin and Batgirl and Damian. I told them no more."

"And you think they're really gonna listen to you, Bruce?" Harley asked skeptically.

"I locked them out of the BatCave," Bruce said. "They don't have a choice."

"Bruce, Bruce, Bruce," Harley chided gently. "Pandora's box, once opened, could never be sealed again."

"What, you're dating the Riddler now?" Bruce groused at her, but his teasing actually brought a flicker of a smile to Jason's face.

Harley sighed at him, though.

"Bruce, I guarantee you that those children aren't going to go quietly into the night if they don't want to. You really need parenting classes," she groaned.

"I locked them out," Bruce argued.

"And when have locks ever stopped me?" Harley pointed out to him.

There was a beat of silence on Bruce's end.

"Can I call you back on my cell phone?" he asked tightly, some concern in his voice. "I want to go check the cave."

"Oh, by all means, Bruce, call us right back," Harley drawled, rolling her eyes a little bit to Jason as she read off the burner number.

A moment after they hung up, Bruce was calling back.

"Hello, Todd residence," Harley sang into the phone.

"Cute," Bruce muttered, "so you're his secretary now?"

"Oh, hell, no," Harley snapped, really angry this time, but Jason actually laughed out loud at the massive predicament that Bruce had just walked himself into.

"She's my wife, Pops," Jason said, leaning over to kiss away Harley's grumpy face while muffling his hand over the phone speaker.

"Your _wife?_ "

The absolute shock in Bruce's voice could have gone either way with Harley, but amusement won over offense and she giggled in true Harley Quinn style.

"That's right, Batsy!" she chirped in her trademark high-pitched voice.

"Lil' ol' Harley Quinn is your daughter-in-law now! I expect a truly fabulous Christmas present," she added.

"And I don't mean diamonds, 'cause I can steal those for myself. I'm talking BatGadgets," she said with relish.

Bruce groaned on the other end of the phone.

"I suppose I deserve this," he muttered. "This is my penance for my mistakes with Jason."

"Watch it, Pops!" Jason's voice became sharp. "You insult my girl and you're really going to have a problem with me."

His face had become hard but Harley kissed the side of it, not bothering to hide the sounds from Bruce.

"I am totally his penance," she said, her voice going back to dead serious.

"You're damn lucky Jay doesn't want you dead, Bruce," she added in a low growl, "because I would have carried it off eventually. And you would have one hundred percent deserved it, too."

"I know," Bruce muttered honestly. "So what, you're not crazy full-time anymore?" he asked Harley.

"That's debatable," Harley answered calmly.

"You left Joker?" Bruce persisted.

"Obviously," she said.

"You're not worried about him coming to kill both of you?" he continued.

"Not when we have Daddy Bats to protect us," Harley cooed sarcastically, an extremely annoyed look overtaking her face directed towards the phone.

"I'm done being Batman," Bruce said flatly. "And I already told you, I shut down the patrols. If Joker comes for you, you're on -" he cut himself off abruptly, remembering he wasn't only talking to Harley.

" _Fuck,_ " he whispered. "Jason, I didn't mean - I would always do anything to protect you from him -"

"Oh, like throwing me into solitary in Arkham?" Jason asked sarcastically.

"Because that's _such_ a safe place for me to be, completely vulnerable and surrounded by corrupt guards and super criminals."

"I had a camera on you 24-7," Bruce started to say.

"And how did that work out for you?" Harley asked him snidely. "Very effective, Bruce. Bravo." 

Bruce sighed out again on a ragged breath.

"So what good am I if he comes for you again, Jason?" Bruce asked him with some desperation. "I'm a fuck up as a crime fighter and a total failure as a parent.”

”I get it. I couldn't keep you safe the first time, I couldn't keep you safe in Arkham, and I sure as hell don't want to risk losing you a second time if he comes for you again.”

”Did you really have to get with his girl?" Bruce said in frustration.

"I'm not Joker's girl," Harley snarled at the same time that Jason snapped, "Yes, I really fuckin' did. Harley is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

She smiled at him at that and reached out to intertwine their hands together.

"And she's worth risking your life for?" Bruce asked him hopelessly, sounding so afraid and frustrated and broken that Harley sighed.

She looked at Jay who started to shake his head.

"Baby, you don't have to -" he whispered, covering the phone again.

"I want to," she whispered back.

"Fuck Mistah J. I got a new man in my life and he's pretty frightenin' himself when he wants to be. Ain't nobody gonna be messin' with Mrs. Red Hood," she insisted.

"They'd better not," Jason whispered ferociously. "But I have a feeling that nobody messes with Harley Fuckin' Quinn these days anyway."

She giggled lightly in agreement and Jason took his hand off the phone.

"Look, Brucie," Harley said to him. "Mistah J ain't gonna be comin' after us no more because I killed him."

There was stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"Brucie?" Harley asked him. "Did you faint and hit your head?"

"No," Bruce finally found his voice and answered back, although he did sound dazed.

"You actually killed him?" he said in wonder.

"Yep," Harley answered.

"And you're sure he's dead?" Bruce asked, just like Jason had when he first heard the news.

Harley giggled.

"More than sure, Batsy. I bashed his brain in and then I burned him up and then I threw the dusty bits and pieces in the ocean."

They could hear Bruce breathing hard on the other end of the phone.

"Why?" he finally asked.

"Because he killed Jason," Harley said flatly, "and I knew you wouldn't do it."

The other end of the phone went silent again for a long moment.

"Is that why you've been trying to kill me all this time?" Bruce finally asked her. "Because of Jason?"

"Yep," Harley answered him back.

Bruce was quiet again.

"The BatCave is still locked," he said a second later, "but I'm going down to check just in case. Hang on."

A few seconds later, Harley and Jason heard Bruce shouting although he had clearly moved the phone away from his mouth.

" _Damian! What the hell are you doing down here? How did you get in here?"_

Harley looked at Jason.

"I told him," she said.

"You told him," Jay agreed.

They couldn't hear Damian's response but the second round of shouting was even louder.

" _Out on patrol? I specifically told him no one was allowed out on patrol!"_

There was some muffled crashing that sounded like the phone being slammed down before they heard Bruce's more muffled voice yelling over the comm, presumably, for Robin and Batgirl to answer him.

His voice suddenly dropped quieter and then he was back on the line.

"I have to go," he said tightly.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked quickly.

"Bane," Bruce answered before hanging up.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bane appears a little OOC in this chapter but there are reasons..... which the sequel story explains.

Harley immediately re-dialed Bruce's cellphone number.

"Damian here," a young voice answered a few rings in.

"Where's Bane?" Harley barked at him.

"I do not believe your presence is requested or required," Damian said before Harley screamed at him, "Where the _fuck_ is Bane, Bat-Turd?"

"Gotham Central Station," Damian answered in a subdued voice.

Harley hung up and Jason was right behind her as they grabbed the house and motorcycle keys and ran downstairs. Two minutes later they were pulling up to another safehouse and running inside to get their gear on.

"We'd better bike over," Jason said as they changed as quickly as they could. "It'll be the fastest."

Harley nodded in agreement, slathering white makeup on her face just to disguise it and not in any semblance of her normal Harlequin flare.

She smeared a stripe of black over her eyes with a sponge as a final touch and then she and Jason were running back out the door and downstairs to the bike.

"Follow my lead on this," Harley said to Jason as he sped through town towards the train station.

"We're old friends, I can probably talk him down."

"Even if he's on the Venom?" Jay asked her over his shoulder.

Harley nodded.

"Yeah, I helped him detox from it about eighteen months ago. He trusts me. But the Bats will probably fuck things up and set him off," she glowered.

Harley called Bruce's cellphone again as they made their way over.

"Damian here -"

"Listen here, Damian," Harley snapped into the phone. "You call all the Bats on the comm and tell them to stay back and let me deal with Bane. He knows me and I can handle this."

"He is already engaged in combat with Robin and Batgirl," Damian said.

"Shit _,_ " Harley groaned. "And Bats knows?"

"That is why he went after them," Damian said.

Harley groaned some more.

"Well, call them anyway, and tell them what I said. And tell them to get the hell out of there if they can."

"All right," Damian said, surprisingly compliant, which Harley figured was not a good sign as he must be getting worried about his team if he wasn't arguing more with her.

She tucked the phone into a pocket as she and Jason pulled up to Gotham Central where terrified passengers were still fleeing in hordes out of the exits.

"Come on," Harley said, taking Jason's hand to keep him close as they ran inside.

Jason grinned to himself thinking about their escape from Arkham and how much he'd wanted Harley's hand-holding to mean what it did now.

"Oh, shit," Jason said as they made it down to the platform just in time to see Bane grab Robin's bo staff and snap it in two, with Robin still hanging on to one end of it.

"Get the kid out of the way," Harley said urgently, taking off in a run.

"Baaaaaaaaane!" she yelled in her high-pitched happy voice, turning a cartwheel as she approached him.

"I missed you!" she squealed as she landed, clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

Bane and Robin both paused momentarily to look at her, giving Red Hood a chance to tackle Robin and slam him down and away from Bane.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming to town?" Harley giggled, skipping up to Bane as Jason started to go hand-to-hand with Tim, who clearly didn't know a rescue when he saw one.

Bane glanced over at the two fighting heros.

"Is he with you?" he asked Harley appreciatively, looking at Red Hood laying into Robin, who also clearly didn't know when to quit.

"Yup," Harley said happily. "I ditched Mistah J and married Red Hood. He's way better to me," she giggled.

"Damn, girl," Bane said. "Good for you. 'Bout time you got treated right by a man," he said, opening his arms up to give Harley a hug, which she returned with a big squeeze.

"What'cha doin' here?" Harley asked him playfully when she stepped away.

She punched his arm lightly in a friendly manner.

"You're not back on the dope, are ya?"

"Nah," Bane scoffed. "After the hell it was gettin' off that shit? Come on, Harley, give me some credit."

"Well, I worry about ya when ya come back to town without callin' me," Harley pouted.

Bane raised an eyebrow.

"I’m kind of worried about _you_ , to be honest," he said to her. "Your makeup looks like shit. Did you put that on in the dark?"

Harley giggled, holding her sides as she laughed.

"I forgot how bad it was," she said. "I heard you were here and we were worried about ya, so we rushed right over here. I didn't have time to do it all good."

"I'll say," Bane laughed at her. "Damn, honey, slow your roll next time. You don't got to be _that_ worried about me."

Harley laughed some more with him, shaking her head.

She turned to look over at how Jay was doing and saw with relief that Robin was seated, finally, on the ground, apparently listening to Damian on the comm as Jason crouched over him, hand firmly planted on his shoulder keeping him down.

"Well, the thing is," Harley said, "hubby here is very estranged from his old man, but, uh, his pops is the Bat."

Bane's eyes bugged out.

"For real?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Harley said. "We were actually on the phone with him when he came rushin' over here to save the babybats. So I wanted to make sure he didn't attack you. Or you attack him," she added.

"Weren't you trying to kill him?" Bane asked her.

"Yeahhhh," Harley sighed. "Before I met Jay and then he asked me not to. 'Cause it's complicated for him, you know?"

"I know that," Bane sighed. He rubbed the back of his head.

"My old man is actually supposed to have rigged some bombs on some of the trains here," he said.

"I’ve been tracking him for a number of months now and got word of his plans just in time to make it to Gotham. I thought it would be faster to evacuate everyone if I showed up looking all terrifying before trying to find the bombs."

"Aw, Bane-Bane," Harley said appreciatively. "I'm really proud of ya," she smiled.

"I learned from the best, Ms. Reform School," Bane teased her.

"Is King Snake here with the Kobras, you think, or by himself?" Harley asked him, frowning as she scanned the now empty platforms.

"With them, I'm pretty sure," Bane answered her. "Or, at least, working with them to plant the bombs. Who knows if they've already skipped town?"

"Nah," Harley said. "Mistah J would never have skipped town without seeing his fireworks go off. I betcha Batsy can help us find them. He's probably already here," she said, turning around to scan the rafters of the station.

"Where's BatGirl, by the way?" she asked him. "She was supposed to be here with Robin instead of in school where she oughtta be."

"Oh," Bane said, sounding a little guilty. "I, uh, may have broken her ankle," he mumbled.

"Bane!" Harley said severely.

"What?" he answered defensively, spreading his hands up. "She was attacking me all crazy with BatBoy over there and I didn't want her to get really badly hurt so I just, uh, slightly disabled her. She probably crawled off somewhere to hide."

Harley giggled.

"Well… I suppose you was sorta bein' a gentleman," she said. "And God knows, she shouldn't be out here anyway, but that's the problem with Batman," she started to fume.

"He takes all these little kids and gets them out here where they shouldn't be and then _even when he tries to stop them, they don't listen."_

Harley raised her voice on the last part, directing it to some shadows which Batman slowly stepped out of.

"Did you find BatGirl?" Harley asked him, her hands on her hips.

"Yes," Bruce grumbled. "I put her in the BatMobile."

He looked at Bane, then at Harley.

"We're good here?" he asked, slightly suspiciously.

"Not exactly," Harley said. "King Snake and the Kobras planted bombs in some of the trains and they're probably still in town waitin' for them to go off. Bane here came to evacuate the people and look for the bombs."

"Really?" Batman asked in total surprise.

"Yes, really," Bane answered him defiantly.

"Not everyone is as bad as you think they are, ya know," Harley said to Batman, tapping her foot on the platform.

"Bane had a very bad drug addiction up until eighteen months ago."

"You're off the Venom?" Batman said to him, again completely shocked.

"Thanks to your daughter-in-law," Bane smirked, and even though he couldn't see it under his mask, Bruce definitely heard it in his voice.

"Oh, my God…" Batman muttered in annoyance. "All right," he said, though, quickly clearing his head.

"Let's call in the bomb squad for the trains and concentrate on finding King Snake. If you'd like to work together," he added somewhat uncertainly, looking from Bane and Harley to Red Hood who was walking up next to them with a limping Robin in tow.

"Sounds good to me, Bats," Bane said cheerfully.

Harley glanced at Jason who shook his head slightly.

"We're gonna pass," Harley said to Bruce. "I'm sure you two can handle it. Without the children's help," she said pointedly to Robin, frowning at him.

"Bane would be happy to break your ankle, too, if you need a deterrent from tagging along," she added seriously. 

Robin looked from Batman to Harley and Bane to the scowling Red Hood who had just beat the crap out of him.

Looking back to Batman, he muttered, "I'll go get BatGirl's ankle taken care of."

"We willbe talking later," Bats growled at him and Robin flinched slightly as he limped off to drive BatGirl back to the BatCave.

"You come over for dinner before you leave town," Harley said to Bane, giving him another hug. "You have my number, right?"

"Yeah," Bane replied, offering his hand to the Hood to shake. "Good to meet you, man," he said to him.

"Glad Harley's with somebody decent now."

Harley snorted.

"Me, too," she said. Jason grinned.

"And I'm glad I'm with Harley," he said, hugging her from behind. "Definitely give us a call," he said to Bane. "It'll be good to get to know you."

"Will do," Bane said, slapping him on the arm. "Ready, Bats?" he asked, turning to Batman, who had just finished up his quick call with the police about the bombs.

"Yeah," Batman said, looking hesitantly at Jason and Harley.

"We'll call you again," Harley said, glancing to Jason for confirmation.

He gave a little nod.

"From a different phone," Harley added with a wink, taking her husband's hand to leave.

"I'd like that," Bruce said honestly, with traces of vulnerability showing up again in his voice.

"Now, tell me how we're going to find my old man," Bane said, throwing an arm over the Dark Knight's shoulders and gently leading him away from Harley and Red Hood with a little wave of his other hand to his departing friend.

Harley mouthed a 'thank you' back to him for ending the awkward moment and then she and Jason walked out of the station hand in hand, back to their definitely abnormal, but more-normal-than-they-used-to-be-lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Fanfiction writers are thirsty vampires and comments are our lifeblood. (But if you are mean, we will cut a bitch. Cuz we are vampires rawr) 
> 
> A sequel to this story is in progress and being actively updated once a week - "Red Knight Takes Queen's Bishop"
> 
> It is heavy on Bane and explains why he is presenting so oddly in this chapter - don't worry, within the first chapter he's back to his usual darkly brooding self. The story is told more from Bruce's POV but still features Harley and Jason and a lot more BatFamily. 
> 
> Please check out my other Batman fics! Lots of rarepairs but a few better-known pairings hiding out in there, too.
> 
> I have another longfic in progress that updates weekly, set in the Justice League: Animated Universe - "A Light in the Dark". It's heavy on Batman. (And rarepairs. Because of course it is.)
> 
> You can follow me on tumblr as River9Noble. Come say hi!


End file.
